Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly ripped the Yankees defense and lack of fundamentals as Los Angeles celebrated on the field at Yankee Stadium, joking with Rob Bradford of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast about the team being cursed by Fat Joe, who performed before game three, one in which the Yanks also lost.
“They put Fat Joe on the board, and I said ‘Oh, it’s an easy dub now. Fat Joe is the curse,’” Kelly said. “They started kicking the ball around and playing Yankee defense....I said ‘The Fat Joe curse, watch.’ We started chipping away.”
The Yanks held a 5-0 lead and seemed to be cruising towards a game six before a disastrous fifth inning saw five unearned runs come across to score, tying the game and sending the Dodgers to a clinching victory. Fat Joe, a notable Yankee fan, was shown on the big screen before that inning in a hype video for the fans, and Kelly joked that he knew in that moment that the Dodgers would come back, even telling a teammate as much.
Reacting to the interview on Boomer and Gio, Boomer wasn’t surprised that an opponent believed the Yankees would eventually give the game away, considering who the Yankees were all season.
“Somewhere along the line, it was gonna catch up to them,” Boomer said. “Their lack of fundamental baseball...you can probably look at 10 different instances in these five games along that cost them dearly.”