Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Kelly didn't hold back when it comes to the Houston Astros. Appearing on teammate Ross Stripling's Big Swing Podcast, the flamethrower called out the “little b***h” Astros for being “snitches” for their role in a cheating scandal that shook the whole league.
Kelly was recently suspended eight games for his role in a bench-clearing near-brawl during the recent Dodgers-Astros series in July.
The Dodgers righty threw a few high-and-in fastballs at third baseman Alex Bregman and shortstop Carlos Correa, leading to the exchanging of foul words and gestures with the Astros players:
The Dodgers reliever then made a vulgar remark to Correa after striking him out, which led to the benches clearing. While no punches were thrown, Major League Baseball suspended Kelly as well as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who sat out a game.
Upon appealing the suspension, Kelly got it reduced to five games on Wednesday, but that didn't keep him from airing out his grievances in the podcast. The Dodgers reliever feels Astros players let former manager AJ Hinch and former GM Jeff Luhnow take the fall for the scandal.
Via TMZ Sports:
“All they do is go snitch like a little b****, and they don't have to get fined, they don't have to lose games,” said Kelly. “When you take someone's livelihood… to save your own ass, that's what I don't like. Cheating? They cheated. Everyone knows they're cheaters.”
“They know they're cheaters. It's over. That's been there, done that. But now, they mess it up by ruining other people's lives, so they f***ed it up twice.”
“They're not respectable men to me.”
Kelly claims that the high-and-inside fastballs to Bregman and Correa were accidental and merely poor control of his pitches, still marveling as to why MLB decided to ban him.
A quick look at the video would reveal that those two Astros weren't the only ones being punished by his poor aim. He had thrown high-and-in to others like Yuli Gurriel before an 87 mph off-speed effort got the shortstop's attention.
Kelly clearly has strong feelings toward the Astros cheating, as evidenced by his admissions to fellow pitcher Stripling. When asked when he thinks the smoke would clear, Kelly gave a very telling answer:
“I think I'll be irritated forever.”
The Dodgers pitcher isn't going to back down on this one.