Joe Kelly made only one appearance this weekend, and it did not go well. Tasked with keeping a one-run deficit a one-run deficit on Friday night with two outs in the seventh inning, Kelly allowed a ground ball single to Willi Castro just under the glove of a diving Leury García. It provided a familiar sight for White Sox fans: A ground ball through the hole with Joe Kelly pitching, a run coming in to score.
From there, things got worse. Kelly walked Riley Greene. Kelly allowed a double to Javy Báez. Castro scored, Kelly eventually ended the inning, Kelly’s ERA rose to 9.95, which is more than double what you’d expect it to be based on his strikeouts, walks, home runs allowed, and quality of allowed contact. Has Joe Kelly been his best self for Chicago? No. Has Joe Kelly been bad? Not really. But fans of his team are understandably upset (this is a justified natural state for White Sox fans). This is familiar to those of us who’ve followed Joe Kelly’s career to date.
In Boston, it was the fight with Tyler Austin in April of 2018 which made Joe Kelly a legend. By the end of September, though, folks were clamoring for him to be kept off the playoff roster. In Los Angeles, early results were terrible, to the extent that when the Dodgers put Kelly’s toddler front and center on Kelly’s bobblehead night, many speculated it was a move designed at discouraging awkward boos.
What happened in Boston? Joe Kelly made the playoff roster, and after taking on mop-up duty in the Division Series, he slowly climbed to the improbable throne reserved for Alex Cora’s most trusted pitcher, striking out 13 of the 44 batters he faced and managing a 0.79 postseason ERA. Had Cora not wanted to give Chris Sale the honorific of recording that World Series’ final out, it would have been Joe Kelly on the mound as the Red Sox vanquished the Dodgers and earned their latest batch of rings. The man went from booed to hero.
It was a similar story in Los Angeles, though injury did keep Kelly more tantalizing than dominant during his tenure in SoCal. On a wild night in an empty Houston ballpark, the flamethrower assigned more punishment to the Astros than Rob Manfred could fathom, becoming in the process the focus of multiple works of art in America’s second-largest city. Booed to hero. Again.
The presumption in Chicago, then, should be that Joe Kelly will figure this out. It’s a tougher path—his customary playoff occupation of Pitching Ninja’s Twitter account may be stopped before it starts this year by his team’s impotence—but based on every data point we have, Joe Kelly will leave Chicago beloved, just as he left Los Angeles, and Boston, and even St. Louis, long ago (I don’t think our guy was ever booed in Missouri—skipped that step).
Take heart, then, White Sox fans. Or take something. This is all part of tradition.
NASCAR’s Hot Streak
Following their lucky avoidance of rain at Nashville, NASCAR dodged the weather again yesterday in Atlanta, and in a sport that’s had terrible organization-wide vibes for years, this is a great sign. You know things are clicking in life when the weather’s doing what you want. The weather is doing what NASCAR wants. Expect this Denny Hamlin rage at Ross Chastain to produce a moment for the ages down the stretch.
On the F1 side, Charles Leclerc won on Sunday in Austria, which is fun because Max Verstappen was expected to win and with every Max Verstappen win, the season gets even more boring. Credit to Ferrari for making otherwise-dull races exciting through the constant subplot where we get to wonder whether their engine will blow up. Life on the edge, man.
How the Draft Went
From the looks of it, the Senators drafted nine players last week, beginning with Filip Nordberg and ending with Tyson Dyck. Are these nine players going to one day lead the Senators to the Stanley Cup? Yes. Also, someone please remind me in a couple months to figure out which college hockey teams have Sens on ‘em. Forgot about that until I read that Dyck’s going to UMass, which I’ve seen our friends in Canada refer to as the “University of Massachusetts at Amherst” in a nod, presumably, to UMass-Lowell’s existence.
In non-draft Sens news, the Sens hired former Sen Wade Redden as a development coach, and rumors are flying involving Matt Murray and Connor Brown. Separate rumors, but as anyone knows who’s read one of those novels that starts with two people in different places, they’re going to collide. Theoretically. I don’t know that novel rules apply to the NHL. Haven’t been doing this long enough.
License Plate Bracket III Update
It’s looking like August, guys. Apologies.
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Viewing schedule for the evening:
7:10 PM EDT: White Sox @ Guardians (MLB TV)
I feel like we’re headed towards a run of quiet Joe Kelly consistent success. That’s my gut right now, as an expert.
