Joe Kelly throws at Bregman and mocks Correa, a breakdown
What Happened
On July 28, 2020, in the COVID-shortened season opener rematch between the Dodgers and Astros, Joe Kelly turned a relief appearance into payback for Houston's 2017 sign-stealing scandal. With a three-run lead and Alex Bregman at the plate, Kelly fired a 96 mph fastball up near Bregman's head, then later struck out Carlos Correa and gave him a mocking pouty face on his way back to the dugout. Correa barked at him, benches cleared, and Dusty Baker came out to defend his players. Kelly walked off the mound chirping the whole way.
Why This Matters
This was the first real on-field reckoning for the Astros after their 2017 title was tainted, and it landed in an empty stadium with cardboard cutouts in the seats. Kelly got an eight-game suspension for it, later reduced to five, which was longer than the bans handed to any Astros player for the actual cheating. That irony made him a folk hero in LA. The 'pouty face' he flashed at Correa became an instant meme and even ended up on a t-shirt. There was no hit-by-pitch and no ejection in the moment, just the threat of one fastball behind a head and a whole lot of attitude. For a 2020 season with no fans, Kelly gave Dodgers supporters the catharsis they'd waited two and a half years to see.
At 5.6M views, this sits at #17 of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, putting it in the top 1.1% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Joe Kelly. Teams: Angels.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentbaseball's back and the drama that we
all wanted to see unfold is finally
unfolding as the dodgers face the astros
this one's brought to you by draftkings
for those of you that don't know the
context behind this the astros beat the
dodgers in the world series while they
were cheating so Joe Kelly's on the
mound
bregman's at the plate it's a three-run
game and Joe Kelly cannot find the zone
he falls behind two-and-oh he's gonna
fall behind three-and-oh here and now
you can kind of see
his wheels spinning where he's like all
right three runs i only need two outs
and probably just hit this dude he goes
the first we'll get the double play or
i'll get two outs okay yeah i'll just
throw at this dude
behind his head 96 miles per hour
bregman hits the deck he's scared as how
he's like oh my god i wish i knew that
one was coming just [ __ ] myself over
here
meanwhile Joe Kelly's just turned to his
infield alright turn two
while he's yawning then to make matters
even worse he's just gonna try to hit
him on the pick off throw
this is this is a strategy some pitchers
do like all right i'll scare you there
now i'm gonna
fire fastballs right at your rib cage as
you slide back you're seeing this
bragging's like hey guys hey cardboard
cutouts you guys seeing this
dude's being a butt head right now
anyway he goes back
to the batter and he just doesn't have
his fastball he throws three off speed
funky monkey makes the play and now
you're gonna hear someone yell at kelly
right here this is pretty fun let's get
on the mountain
let's get on the man little [ __ ] he's
gonna get through this guy tries to go
back to the fastball
just doesn't have any location on it so
he walks him on four straight pictures
so now with corey up he's like screw the
fastball i can't throw it for a strike
i'll go off speed off speed maybe that's
on purpose as well he's like hey i
wanted to hit this dude with my fastball
but i got no idea where it's going
curry's like uh dude that could have
hurt me what's up
inside again and now he's just gonna
attack him with the breaking pitch
low and cray is gonna strike out
apparently he said nice swing [ __ ]
oh then he starts going faces mode then
he goes hmm
sad boy craze tossing his equipment like
he's in a wwe promo
always hey that [ __ ] is easy [ __ ]
easy
throw your fastball [ __ ] oh yeah
yeah i'll throw my fastball down the
middle for you yeah
shut the [ __ ] up and kelly's gonna walk
over here
what
[Music]
what
aight all right that's kind of it
they kind of break it up dusty baker got
a little upset he's protecting his guys
for the first time so shout out dusty
i mean carlos gray is a grade a weirdo
we all know that but i think he handled
this situation pretty well
bregman handled it pretty well and joe
kelly it was on purpose
hey you knew it was gonna happen it
happened this one was brought to you by
draftkings download the draftkings app
use promo code john boy go grab joe
kelly if you're on his side go grab the
astros if you're on their side
put them on your squad earn some money
have some fun baseball's back it's
better than ever
what a time a little behind the scenes
as this happened i jumped up from my
couch
to my computer slipped in a nice puddle
of my new puppy's piss
ate [ __ ] fell on the ground into the
puddle of piss
had to clean myself up before sitting
down to record this at 1am