The Philadelphia Phillies were able to take Game 1 of their Wild Card Series against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday. And a big reason why was the impressive performance of Phillies star Nick Castellanos, who celebrated one of his timely hits with a hilarious gesture to his own dugout.
Castellanos went 2-4 on the night at the plate, both doubles that helped result in Phillies runs.
His first double came in the bottom of the fourth inning, moving his teammate J.T. Realmuto over to third base. After reaching second base safely on the play, Castellanos looked over to the Phillies dugout and threw up his ring finger, signaling that the Phillies will at some point get a World Series ring in their postseason run.
However, to the naked eye, it looked like he was flipping the bird to his teammates, which fans were wrongfully outraged by on social media.
https://twitter.com/CalicoJoeMLB/status/1709375601126056173
When you look closer at his hand, you can tell that it was indeed his ring finger and not his middle finger. But that wasn’t exactly clear initially. ESPN even made the mistake on their broadcast of the play, as they blurred out Castellanos’ hand assuming that it was his middle finger.
Castellanos spoke about the moment after the game, where he indeed confirmed that it was his ring finger and that it was a heat-of-the-moment celebration.
“Well, I mean, it was just something that came out. I didn’t think about it. I mean that’s why we’re here. That’s what the journey is about, to get that ring.”
Castellanos may want to keep that celebration in his back pocket moving forward, as it is seemingly very easy to misunderstand for many fans.
[ESPN]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.