Phillies celebrate NLDS win over Atlanta with ‘Atta Boy Harper’ shirts

As if the on-field drama between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS wasn’t enough, we’ve also gotten some real juice off the field over the past 24-48 hours. It began at the end of Game 2, when Bryce Harper was doubled off of first base for the final out of Atlanta’s come-from-behind 5-4 win. After the game, in a no doubt delirious Atlanta locker room, Orlando Arcia took some shots at Harper in front of reporters, with one line standing out in particular: “Atta boy Harper!”

Word of the taunt quickly made it to the Phillies, who filed it away ahead of Game 3 — then unleashed revenge in the form of a 10-2 rout that featured six homers. Two of those homers came from Harper, who made sure to give Arcia two long stare-downs at shortstop.

(Atlanta was none too happy about the story getting out, kicking off a whole round of discourse about locker-room sanctity and the difference between being on and off the record. Local Braves media and fans have been coming at the reporter who quoted Arcia, FOX Sports’ Jake Mintz, for the last day now, but just to reiterate: Mintz did absolutely nothing wrong, reporters have every right to use what players say in front of them — and in fact do so all the time — Arcia and the Braves know that that’s the case, and the only reason this became an issue at all is because it served as a convenient scapegoat for an Atlanta team that had just gotten waxed on national TV.)

But Philly was hardly done returning the smack talk. Upon punching their ticket to a second straight NLCS with a dramatic 3-1 win in Game 4, they made sure Arcia was part of the celebration — chanting “atta boy Harper!” amid the postgame champagne and even commemorating it on a shirt.

(In case you can’t quite make it out in the video above, the back reads “he wasn’t supposed to hear it,” a nod to Arcia’s response when media asked him about the incident after Game 3.)

Some may find this tasteless, but those people clearly don’t have enough joy in their lives. This is, by contrast, exactly what postseason baseball is all about, the nursing of beefs and the exacting of revenge when the stakes are at their highest. Arcia got the ball rolling here by coming at Harper, and if anyone is to blame, it’s Atlanta’s offense for going so cold at the worst possible time — and not backing up their shortstop’s words with a series win.