In end, Yankees and Gleyber Torres just Joshing with Naylor and the Guardians

The stage was set for celebration: There were two on and two outs in the ninth when the Guardians Myles Shaw hit a harmless ball to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who gobbled it up and flipped it to Gleyber Torres for the forceout at second.

There would be cheering. There would be Champagne. But that could wait a minute: Torres had to troll the Guardians first.

After a Game 4 where Josh Naylor taunted Gerrit Cole with an objectively funny home run celebration – he rocked his arms as he rounded the basepaths, as if holding a baby – Torres had an equally funny retort. He got the last out of Game 5, and with Naylor in the dugout, he rocked the ball in his arms, the move setting social media ablaze.

But humor is in the eye of the beholder, and though Cole curtly called Naylor’s celebration “cute,” it’s clear the Yankees were in no mood for ribbing.

“When he saw Cole and he said what he did, it was disrespectful,” Torres said after the Yankees Game 5 ALDS win. “Not just for Cole but for all the team. We got a little revenge. We’re happy to beat those guys and now they can watch on TV.”

Naylor had a more sanguine outlook: "I mean, you do what you’ve got to do,” he said while smiling, per ESPN. “Better win it all. Do what you’ve got to do."

It was part of a largely measured response from Naylor, who’s used the “Rock the Baby” motion with other teams this year. Even if he spent the better part of three hours receiving the full Bronx Zoo treatment Tuesday.

He was booed mightily during every at bat – the sold-out stadium chanting “Who’s Your Daddy?” with probably more vitriol than it slung at Pedro Martinez. (Granted, when they were chanting that same thing to Martinez back in the day, it was because the Hall of Famer was actually being complimentary, saying that he might as well just call the Yankees his daddy, because of how they owned him.)

Naylor went 0-for-4 – the four non-competitive at bats made up of nine pitches total. When he stepped into the batter's box, fans behind home plate would rock their arms in unison.

"That was so sick,” Naylor told reporters [he meant it in a good way]. “That was honestly like a dream come true as a kid; playing in an environment like this where they've got diehard fans. It's cool. . . . The fact I got that going through the whole stadium, that was sick."

No word yet if Naylor intends to resurrect the celebration next year, though there’s little doubt the “Who’s Your Daddy?” chants will follow him for years to come. (For the record, his dad’s name is Chris. He was his Peewee league coach.)

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.