Former Dodgers RHP Joe Kelly has made quite the name for himself among LA fans. Kelly pitched with the Dodgers from 2019 to 2021, and was pretty good, sporting a 3.59 ERA across those three seasons. However, he made a specific name for himself in 2020, when he struck out Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, and made a pouty face at him on the way back to the dugout.
While that move remains one of the most famous in recent Dodger memory, Kelly was also involved in another incident that lives in infamy among Dodger fans.
In the 2013 NLCS, Kelly was pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, who were taking on the Dodgers. In the first inning of Game 1 of the series, Kelly threw a fastball inside on Ramirez, and plunked him in the ribs.
Ramirez, who was coming off an NLDS where he hit .500 with six extra base hits and six runs batted in, was not the same player after the broken rib injury. He got just two hits in 15 at-bats the rest of the way in the series, leading to the Dodgers' ultimate defeat in six games.
It took Kelly a while to discuss that incident, but ahead of the release of his new book, "A Damn Near Perfect Game," Kelly did an interview with Houston Mitchell of the LA Times. In that interview, he was asked about the infamous moment with Ramirez.
"Hanley Ramirez probably should have gotten out of the way or turned inside a little more," said Kelly. "It was a fastball in and before the game we game planned to not let Hanley beat us. He’s not a very good inside fastball hitter. One slipped and obviously broke his rib and that will forever go down as the biggest pitch to turn the Cardinals season to move on. Obviously, it was an accident. But Hanley was the biggest person we tried to pitch away from contact. It was unfortunate it hit him, but it is what it is."
This probably wasn't exactly the apology Dodger fans were looking for, but if you know anything about Kelly, he's not the kind of guy to apologize for something like this. He admitted it was an accident — which you'd hope it was — but it was an unfortunate event that he somewhat put on Ramirez.
Nevertheless, the past is in the past, and it's more than time to move on. But props to Mitchell for getting Kelly to speak about it, because I'm sure it's something that still haunts many Dodger fans to this day.
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