In case you have been out of the loop recently the blood boiling between Orlando Arcia and the Phillies is very much a thing. Apparently a quote, that may or may not have even been said, gave the Phillies some extra motivation and made Arcia into a Philadelphia villain.
Here’s my take as someone who is around this club daily…Arcia’s locker is sandwiched between Albies/Acuna/Ozuna/Rosario & rarely is he not talking in Spanish. He always uses a translator when being quoted directly. Bryce Harper is also the guy who made sure to tell Acuna to keep… https://t.co/cHiYxA1zKD
— Kelly Crull (@Kelly_Crull) October 11, 2023
The quote making the rounds is Arcia’s alleged “Atta-boy” comments at Bryce after his game-ending base running blunder. Obviously regardless if it was said or not Haprer has used it as motivation in game three. Harper belted a three-run homer off Elder in the third inning, and in his next AB he hit a solo shot off Hand.
The intriguing part was Harper’s actions while in his home run trot. Both times as he stared down Arcia when he passed him on the basepaths. A cold-blooded stare in an intense atmosphere.
the staredown pic.twitter.com/q8pfl4MB2L
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 11, 2023
The high emotions didn’t stop there as Phillies fans began to mock the Atlanta Braves tomahawk chop with a big lead. Every AB Arcia got he was greeted with a chorus of boos.
The reactions and comments on social media was in abundance to say the least. It started with some of the captions with the posts from the official Phillies account.
Atta-boy, Harper pic.twitter.com/mcThfdrC3s
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 11, 2023
I get the decision to take this and run with it as a social media account, but the pettiness from the entire Phillies organization feels a bit much. Of course I write this with an enormous amount of jealousy that I’m not seeing Blooper fire off these tweets instead.
At least Orlando came out and answered back to an extent with his RBI single in the sixth.
Orlando Arcia gets one back for Atlanta pic.twitter.com/zaAyKeUTww
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 11, 2023
At the end of the day regardless of if the quote or non-quote actually happened, the Braves need to find something similar to wake up their team or else it could be another early exit in October.