Braves players upset locker room code was broken over Harper comments

Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies exploded on the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the NLDS on Wednesday night, taking home a 10-2 win and a meaningful 2-1 lead in the best-of-five NLDS. Philly has one more game at home tomorrow where they can close out the series, or Atlanta can force a Game 5 on its home field with a Thursday win in Philly.

The narrative of the evening became Orlando Arcia's gloating in the Braves' locker room after Game 2 where he sarcastically exclaimed, "Atta boy, Harper!" repeatedly, something that came out in articles after the game.

Not at all surprisingly, it woke Harper up. He hit two home runs in Game 3 and stared right at Arcia as he jogged past him. After the game, he admitted his stares were intentional. It needed no confirmation.

Braves players should have known they should not poke the bear. Yet, they did, and for whatever reason, they aren't taking the blame for it.

Braves players scold media for letting Arcia's comments get out

After the game, Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud said this:

"The clubhouse is a sanctuary and I think when things like [Arcia's comments] get out, it doesn't make people want to talk to the media at all. It affects people that have been great to us all year and it is what it is."

Technically, perhaps not an incorrect statement from d'Arnaud. Arcia's shouting after Game 2 was probably not something he expressly said he was OK with being on the record. But if you don't want something like that getting out, you might want to have a cooler head when the media is around. Is shouting something repeatedly around an open locker room something that is expected to remain private?

Arcia, through an interpreter, said Harper, "wasn't supposed to hear," what he said.

One confounding factor is that Arcia speaks through an interpreter. Lifting a non-Q&A quote in English feels more explicitly intentionally against Arcia's wishes by default given that fact.

To play devil's advocate for the situation, reporters are also in the clubhouse to not only relay direct quotes, but to also inform fans on the general vibe, mood, and scene in the clubhouse, if relevant to the story. Arcia's parading around arguably fits that bill.

d'Arnaud's comments seem to imply he's not upset with the local reporters who are with the team day-in and day-out when he says it, "affects people that have been great to us all year." The reporting on Arcia's comments came from a Fox Sports article from Jake Mintz and was reinforced in a Washington Post article by Chelsea Janes, though the Janes article did not directly attribute the comments to Arcia.

The Braves can choose to pin this on whomever they choose, but scapegoating reporters with only one loss before the season is done won't do very much good. Atlanta needs to look in the mirror and get honest with itself, and quick, to get its season re-tracked.

The Braves will need to win a game in a tough environment on Thursday just to earn itself the chance of a rubber match on Saturday.

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