Why were the Phillies chanting a curse at Trea Turner? He doesn’t know, but ‘it’s hilarious.’

ST. LOUIS — The TV broadcast of Tuesday’s home game against the Braves picked up an interesting chant from the Phillies dugout after Trea Turner’s game-tying home run in the ninth inning.

As Turner walked down the dugout steps to be greeted by his teammates, they began chanting, “[Expletive] you, Trea! [Expletive] you, Trea!” in unison. His family was watching from home and needless to say, they had questions.

“I didn’t have answers for them,” Turner said with a laugh. “It’s been going on for months. I probably need an answer.”

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It was an ironic rallying cry, given the profound support Turner has gotten from Phillies fans since the beginning of August. No one seems to know the origin of this chant, but it has been going on since around the All-Star break. Kyle Schwarber thought Turner started it himself, a theory that Turner debunked. Garrett Stubbs wondered if it might have been a random joke that worked its way into the Phillies’ lexicon.

“We probably started saying ‘[Expletive] you, Trea’ one day, and it stuck,” he said.

Regardless of the origin story — or lack thereof — it’s just another way the Phillies have kept things light throughout a long season.

“We screw around with him, and he takes it on the chin,” Schwarber said. “It’s a running joke. We always say this isn’t a sport for thin-skinned. We’re always poking at each other any way possible. We’re around each other so long … we’re all like family. We spend more time around each other here than we do with our normal families.

“There’s days where people make fun of me. I’m all about it. Trea always laughs at me whenever I come out [of a game] for defense. Sometimes he goes, ‘Oh, one less inning for you!’ It’s all good fun.”

Turner has hit 11 home runs in his last 14 games, and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, which means you might hear that chant again.

“I don’t remember where that started or how it started, but it’s hilarious,” Stubbs said. “Trea’s just a great dude. It’s easy to rag him because there’s no substance behind it ... everyone loves him.”

Manager Rob Thomson initially said that he’d make a decision on whether to move Michael Lorenzen to the bullpen by Friday, but he said he won’t have an answer until Saturday.

“We’re just talking through the whole thing,” Thomson said. “What’s the best thing to do? It’s a pretty big decision.”

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Lorenzen pitched out of the bullpen throughout his time at Cal State Fullerton. He has pitched out of the bullpen on and off over the course of his nine-year pro career, but he hasn’t done so consistently since 2021.

Thomson said it’s possible that if Lorenzen is moved to the bullpen, he is used in a “Swiss army knife” type of role. He could be used in long relief at some point, since he’s stretched out as a starter.