ST. LOUIS -- About a half-hour after the Pirates decisively set down the Cardinals, 5-1, on this sunny Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, and after Derek Shelton had raised his right fist after the 27th out of his first win as manager, and after he'd whooped it up with his coaches and players in a clubhouse celebration that sounded as if it were playoff-esque, and after he'd been doused in enough booze that he'd later express regret that it wasn't instead imbibed ... he emerged back out of the dugout.
Just him and an assigned team photographer.
I wasn't certain what was happening, so I snapped a shot myself from way up in the press box ...
Derek Shelton, Sunday in St. Louis. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS... though I should've guessed it was this:
There are too many people to thank in one tweet, but for now I just want to say this means the world to me.
First win is in the books and now we’re coming home to the Burgh!#TeamShelton#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/7QgJ3TR6wh
— Derek Shelton (@derekshelton) July 26, 2020
Nice.
That's what Shelton is, by the way, first and foremost. He's a nice guy. He's engaging in the truest spirit of the term, in that he'll actively engage people around him in any setting, and at the same time he's welcoming enough that people seem to naturally gravitate toward him.
Man, you'd better believe his players do.
I'd seen some of it in Bradenton, I'd heard a lot more of it through the coronavirus shutdown, but then came this.
This was JT Brubaker, fresh off a significant first of his own with a strong big-league debut of two scoreless innings of relief, setting the clubhouse scene: "It started off as Shelton congratulating me, the team congratulating me, and then they got Shelton. But the bigger celebration was definitely for Derek. It was unbelievable to just be a part of that. I was able to take a step back out of the moment I was in and be able to see what it meant to him. I can’t be more excited for the guy."
“It was a blast," Mitch Keller, the starter, said. "Kind of felt like it was my first win again. Not for me, but for Shelty."
There was more of that. As well as expressions of admiration. Amiable as Shelton is, all concerned will attest he's been all business by the diamond.
"He has faith in us, but there's accountability," Phillip Evans said after three hits and an RBI on a start at third base. "It's huge. We're going to do whatever we can every night to bring our best to the table, and he expects that. It's all respect in the clubhouse, and we're going to have fun doing it."
Shelton made clear he was having fun upon plopping himself down into his chair for the postgame Zoom call, still drenched from the booze.
“How was your guys’ day?" he beamed to those of us on the call. "Mine was pretty good!”
Asked then about still being visibly soaked, he laughed and added, "Yeah, I got a pretty severe beer shower. I think anybody that knows me knows that I’m pissed that we wasted that much beer. I got baby powder and orange juice and apple juice and just about everything. It’s probably the best shower I’ve ever taken."
Shelton turns 50 in four days. He spent the past 15 years as a big-league coach, the past two as the Twins' bench coach. He hadn't managed since 2002, with Staten Island of the short-season New York-Penn League, having embarked on a coaching career way back in 1997. And then, even after finally reaching the job and the level he'd always wanted, the season was ... oh, you know.
One can only imagine ...
“Exhilarating," Shelton called it. "Glad I got it. Glad we got it. It was exciting."
• Shelton made another kind of history Sunday, becoming the first manager to argue with an umpire in coronavirus times and, thus, gaining more national attention than his victory or the game itself.
In the third inning, after the Pirates had been hit with more balls-and-strikes umpiring they clearly felt was unfair over the weekend -- not without cause, I'll reiterate -- Derek Holland shouted toward home plate umpire Jordan Baker from under one of the string of social-distancing red tents to the left of the dugout. Baker heard enough, removed his mask and gestured for an ejection.
Shelton bounced out of the dugout, and there we went.
Major League Baseball protocol expressly forbids the trademark nose-to-nose arguments between a manager and an umpire, so Baker began applying his protective mask as he and Shelton moved toward each other. Shelton had his own mask down, but he changed that upon seeing Baker's break off.
Once that was sorted out, Shelton repeatedly and animatedly gestured toward those left-field seats, as if to suggest the absurdity of even hearing anything from that far. But then, that's eminently plausible with no fans in the place and only ambient, artificial crowd noise all around.
“Yeah, I think Jordan did a really good job with it," Shelton elaborated. "We were trying to stay distanced, which we both were aware of. Then his mask broke midway through it, so I wanted to make sure that my mask stayed up. He was great. He handled it professionally. We both were in an unknown area. When I went out there later, we kind of got a chuckle out of it that it was the first time, just making sure we stayed away from each other.”
• If Shelton's struck any foul chord with the Pirates' faithful in the early going, I get the feeling it's over failing to repeat his lineups.
Well, get used to them. As I mentioned earlier this weekend, he and bench coach Don Kelly write these up well in advance, based on an array of circumstances, mostly aimed at keeping players fresh, and they're sticking to it.
“This was scripted out," Shelton said Sunday morning of a lineup that left out leadoff man Kevin Newman, among others. "This was set before we played the first game. Yeah, there was nothing reactionary. I told you guys I’m not going to do that. It’s just not how I’m going to roll on that. It’s going to be scripted out. We knew we were going to give Newman the day today, then I just kind of bumped everybody up.”
• On a day that saw Jacob Stallings block countless pitches in the dirt -- seriously, the guy's unreal in this regard -- amid on-field heat indexes topping 100 degrees, I'm inclined to believe he benefited from not catching all three games. Just saying.
• My only complaint on this count is that this guy needs to play:
Jose Osuna touches the plate in the fourth inning Sunday in St. Louis. - APJose Osuna's two-run home run in the fourth inning traveled 429 feet with an exit velocity of 108.4 mph, the hardest ball hit by either side on the day.
He does that sort of thing.
The Pirates need that sort of thing.
Get 'reactionary' and play him.
• No one, not even Osuna, has looked anywhere near as comfortable at the plate as Colin Moran. He had a home run of his own, went 4 for 11 in the series and just generally kept a solid, aggressive approach.
• Moran and Mitch Keller both bore some blame for the Cardinals' lone run in the third inning. Moran backed up to field a bouncer with Adam Frazier right behind him, after which Keller hesitated near the bag when Moran had to flip to him. Tommy Edman was safe, and Kolten Wong sprinted all the way around from second when Keller threw wide to the plate.
I share this only because ...
“Yeah, it was my fault," Keller said. "I thought I got over there in time, but the throw home ... I had more time than I thought I did. Next time, kind of set my feet a little bit more and deliver a good throw. I kind of rushed myself throwing it back home.”
That's a good teammate.
• The Pirates' outfielders aren't exactly hitting. Bryan Reynolds, Jarrod Dyson, Guillermo Heredia and Cole Tucker went a combined 0 for 27 in the series. The only hit by an outfielder was Osuna's home run Sunday while he was still playing right.
I don't expect much from Dyson, Heredia or Tucker, but Reynolds' case is baffling: He's 0 for 10 with two walks, two strikeouts and some of the ugliest, least decisive swings I've ever seen from him. He's seen 32 total pitches, he's swung outside the zone on 42.9 percent of his swing attempts, and he's barreled up the ball ... zero times.
He'll turn it around, though. The others won't.
So, play Osuna out there. Or anywhere.
• What, no love for Michael Feliz's 1-2-3 eighth inning?
Hello?
Anyone?
• The Pittsburgh Baseball Club's 134th home opener is Monday, 7:05 p.m., against the Brewers and in front of zero fans. What a time.
Steven Brault will take the hill, piggybacked by Chad Kuhl, making his official return from Tommy John surgery.
“It’s extremely exciting," Brault said Sunday. "You know, we did talk about – Chad and I and Shelty – how it’s kind of not necessarily the same as a regular home opener. It’s probably more of a scheduling thing, where Shelty felt it made the most sense. So it’s not necessarily the same, but I will take the honor, for sure. I’m excited to throw a home opener.”
Alex Stumpf will have that. I'll fly home but not in time for first pitch. Thanks for reading my stuff out here.
MORE PIRATES COVERAGE
• Kovacevic: A plan for patience
• Mound Visit: Burdi brings it
• Cherington: 'We came to win'
