St. Louis Cardinals: Joe Kelly blanks Dodgers in best start of his career

After watching Joe Kelly pitch just prior to the All-star break, I was skeptical at best and very little confidence in believing that Kelly was fully healthy after recovering from a hamstring injury. Against Milwaukee, where Kelly was not effective in the least.  Kelly looked stiff and possibly still injured.  His leg kick was dramatically lower and his stride seemed shorter and thus, he left some fat pitches up in the zone that got pounded. Pitching is all about legs and I was not sure Kelly was fully recovered based on his changed mechanics.

On Saturday afternoon against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kelly proved me wrong, blanking the Dodgers while helping the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win in what was statistically the best start of Kelly's career.

Kelly is not one to go deep in to games and for just the second time in his career, he tossed seven innings and after some early bumps, seemed to gain a new feeling of comfort with what still seemed like some limited mobility. Overall he allowed just four hits and one walk while managing to strike out four in route to his best start ever, at least according to the 68 game score he posted, the highest in his career.

This was obviously a good sign for the Cardinals for many reasons.  Not only was this proof that Kelly is healthy enough to man the rotation for the foreseeable future in the second half, but he also gave a glimmer of hope that he will be able to provide the Cardinals with the one thing they need more than anything else: innings.

Kelly has plenty of fans in St. Louis.  He pitches with grit, he has fun in the dugout and he has a very likable personality. If he can also start pitching deep in to games like he did Saturday, the love fest may be overwhelming.

Saturday was a great day for Joe Kelly.  In fact, it was the best he has ever had at the MLB-level.

And much like his altered mechanics, lets hope Kelly can continue to repeat that performance throughout the second half.

Thanks for reading, @CoreyRudd