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Tuesday night, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos had himself a heck of a game.
He went 2-for-4 with with two doubles and a RBI in Philly’s 4-1 win over the Miami Marlins in Game 1 of their National League Wild Card series.
Following his first double, which came in the bottom of the fourth inning, Castellanos looked over at the Phillies dugout and held up his right hand with a finger extended.
Nick Castellanos Celebration Is Well…..Special 😭 #mlb #WildCard #phillies pic.twitter.com/uWcyuPM3Eo
— Core Sports Media (@CoreSportsMedia) October 4, 2023
It happened so fast that many, including several of his Phillies teammates, thought he was, for some odd reason, flipping the bird at them.
Unbelievable. My kids are watching this game and because he flipped off everyone they are doing the same thing. I speak for everyone when I say banish the Phillies from the MLB!!
— Alex Matthew (Golf Legend) (@alex_golflegend) October 4, 2023
“I 100% thought he was flipping us off, if I’m being honest,” Phillies outfielder Jake Cave said after the game, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I thought it was his middle finger,” said catcher Garrett Stubbs.
“I did not think it was his ring finger,” added outfielder Brandon Marsh.
Heck, ESPN even blurred out Nick Castellanos’ hand on X (formerly known as Twitter) when they shared a video of him performing the gesture.
Nick Castellanos' celebration 😂 pic.twitter.com/EGywkvAwbL
— ESPN (@espn) October 4, 2023
He fooled everyone so badly that Stubbs and several of his teammates ended up looking at the footage on an iPad in the dugout.
“We were like, ‘Ohhhh.. that’s his ring finger,” Stubbs said.
Kyle Schwarber added after the game, “Someone goes, ‘Did he flip us off?’ and I’m like, ‘What?’ I went back and watched the video and counted the fingers and was like, ‘Okay, it’s his ring finger.’
“We were all like, ‘What is that?’ And he was like, ‘I have no clue. That’s the only thing that came out of my mind.”
Following the game, Nick Castellanos told NBC Sports Philadelphia, “Of course it was my ring finger, man. Why would I give the middle finger to my teammates? I love them.”
“I just found myself doing it,” he added later. “And then after the fact I was like, ‘Did I really just do that?’ But it just came out.”
Philadelphia sends Aaron Nola to the bump against Marlins pitcher Braxton Garrett at Citizens Bank Park at 8:08 p.m. ET on Wednesday with a chance to close out the series.