Yesterday marks three years since the Joe Kelly/Tyler Austin fight. Here’s a good video of everything surrounding the incident:
And here are my thoughts as I watch:
- I forgot how gooberly Brock Holt was dressed that night in the cold. Love that man.
- I forgot how high Tyler Austin’s spikes were on that slide. Forgot how clear an offense it was.
- Tyler Austin is a lot bigger than Joe Kelly.
- Joe Kelly had good footwork in the fight. We don’t talk enough about the footwork.
- Just looked up the size discrepancy. Austin’s listed 45 pounds heavier than Kelly.
- I’m not the biggest Boston guy, but the difference between Boston’s commentators and New York’s during these incidents is telling. But also, hard to defend Austin there even if they pay you to defend Austin there.
- Again, Brock Holt. What a goober.
- It was a good bat slam by Austin. He deserves credit for that.
- Man. Joe Kelly made that man a fool at the moment of contact.
- This Brian Cashman interview makes me think Cashman was on Kelly’s side. He knew. You can see it in his eyes.
- Gary Sánchez: Peacemaker. Bless him.
- Brock Holt: Diplomat.
- Joe Kelly: “I don’t know what happened.”
- I like that Joe Kelly talked through the gameplan on Austin while he tried to think of more things to say.
- Bummed they didn’t include Kelly’s Greg Maddux quote in the video.
- People forget that this was the prequel to Joe Kelly winning the Red Sox their best World Series.
- Brock Holt: Strategist.
- I wish they had a camera on David Price during the fight, because I feel like he was doing some wet willies. Right? Something impish for sure.
- Having Pedro Martínez on hand to adjudicate a Red Sox/Yankees fight on MLB Network (and to demonstrate the proper way to take out a middle infielder while wearing a suit) is the best thing Major League Baseball has done for itself in the last decade.
- “If you throw a cleat up, that’s a sign you’re ready to fight.” – Pedro Martínez
- I forgot the Red Sox threw at Manny Machado for two weeks in 2017 (and that the Machado slide that preceded that basically ended Dustin Pedroia’s career).
- “I don’t think they did a good job hitting Machado. That should’ve been done after one or two pitches.” – Pedro Martínez.
- “The execution was perfect.” – Harold Reynolds. And indeed it was.
