Bryce Harper stares at Orlando Arcia after hitting 2 HRs in NLDS Game 3 win
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Phillies suffered a demoralizing loss in Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves earlier this week.
The Phillies wasted a 4-0 lead, Trea Turner made some costly errors and Bryce Harper's base-running blunder ended the game.
Following the loss, Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia mocked Harper in the locker room and repeatedly said "ha-ha, atta-boy, Harper." It didn't take long for those comments to go viral on social media eventually finding its way back to Harper.
Harper said his Phillies teammates told him about the comments and said: "What are you going to do?"
Well, Harper responded with the performance of a lifetime on Wednesday night inside a jam-packed Citizens Bank Park.
Harper hit two home runs in Philadelphia's 10-2 victory in Game 3 of the NLDS to give the Phillies a 2-1 series lead with a chance to send the Braves home for the second straight season on Thursday night.
After each homer, Harper rounded the bases and stared down Arcia.
Below is the full exchange between Harper and a reporter in Wednesday night's postgame presser:
Did the comments give you any motivation?
"It's a super competitive game that we play from both sides of the ball," Harper said. "I enjoy commentary and things and like I said I listen to (SportsRadio) WIP and you hear a lot of stuff on there at times. I just enjoy it, it's a part of the reason why we play this game. There's nothing like it. Everybody's competitive that we play against. I just really enjoy those moments and the opportunity to play this game and have those moments."
Was there any motivation?
"Any time anybody says something right? That's what it's all about," Harper said.
Did you enjoy staring him down?
"Yeah, I mean, I stared right at him," Harper said.
Arcia poked the bear and found out the hard way. The Braves shortstop told reporters following the loss that he wasn't supposed to hear the comments he said on Monday night.
Harper wore a Deion Sanders T-shirt into Citizens Bank Park for Game 3, but he said there's nothing behind him wearing it. Many on social media believed Harper wore the shirt because Arcia "made it personal" after his Game 2 comments.
Sanders, who is the head coach of the University of Colorado football team, went viral last month for saying Colorado State University made things personal before their game in September.
Harper said he actually thought about going home and changing because Sanders played for the Braves.
"I'm a big fan of Prime and what he's doing at Colorado," Harper said. "Of course, I'm a (Ohio State) Buckeye fan until I die, but just the way he goes about it. His interviews, his charisma, him being able to coach his kids and he's all about family."
Not only did Harper respond with a two-home run performance, he passed Phillies legend Ryan Howard on the franchise's all-time postseason home run list.
Harper now sits third on the list with nine behind Jayson Werth and Chase Utley.
Those three -- Utley, Werth and Howard -- were the last Phillies team to win the World Series in 2008. This current Phillies squad came two wins away from reaching that goal last season.
Harper said after the win he's trying to make it feel like those glory years once again. He's nine wins away.
"Pandering, right? Everyone talks about it. That's what everyone thinks I do or whatever -- I love this place. Flat-out I love this place. There's nothing like coming into the Bank and playing infront of these fans. Blue-collar mentality, tough, fighting every single day. I get chills, man. I get so fired up. I, man, I love this place. I signed here for a reason to do everything I could to bring back a trophy to this town, to Mr. [John] Middleton, to this organization. I got chills thinking about because that's what it's all about. I absolutely love this place. I love every single person in this organization. Fighting, clawing every single day to get back to that moment. There were so many good times in 07, 08, 09, 2010, 11, I wanted to get back to that moment and playing in the postseason and these fans and Red October. I could go on and on. There's nothing like playing here and Garret Stubbs said it best. If you don't like it, get out. Because we don't want you here, and we want to be able to come in each night and play our game and they are with us for this every single step of the way."
