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On Dec. 4, 2019, in his introduction as manager of the Pirates, Derek Shelton said one of the things he’s looking forward to about the job the most was seeing fans in PNC Park.
On Thursday, 491 days after that introduction, it will finally happen.
It was something that was commonly brought up throughout the shutdown, last season and this spring training, but Shelton admitted Thursday that the reality of it happening “really hit” him last night when he got back to Pittsburgh with his wife and two of his children. It then hit again this morning.
“Walking over the Clemente Bridge, coming in, the lights were on when I came in early at 7 o'clock. It was goosebumps man,” Shelton said.
The Pirates will play host to the Cubs Thursday in their first home game with fans at PNC Park since Sept. 29, 2019. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.
Shelton is in the pro- “make opening day a national holiday” camp, or even just local to get Pittburghers out of work or school. And while he’s taken part of two opening days and last year’s home opener as a manager already, with fans this time around, it feels different.
“I do feel like this is our first home opener,” Shelton said. “You have one on the road, which is cool, but there's nothing like doing a home opener at home."
MORE FROM THE MANAGER
• Shelton still hasn’t -- and at this point, probably will never -- name a formal closer for this year. Instead, the Pirates have several pitchers who they want to use in leverage situations.
In a traditional bullpen setup, it’s pretty clear how the late innings would go. A closer in the ninth, set-up man in the eighth and so on.
Without those formal roles, how much of the plan with the bullpen is scripted before the game, and how much is it played by ear?
“A lot of nights it's scripted that there's one or two guys in each spot for a group of hitters,” Shelton said. “It never works out that hitter ever ends up leading off an inning, especially with the three batter rule, so it provides challenges to it. So I would say most managers go into it with it generally scripted out of where they're gonna go and kind of adjust off where they are in the lineup."
• The Pirates are coming back home after a 1-5 road trip, which included being swept by the Reds, and outscored, 30-8, in that series.
It’s not the way the team wanted to start the year. Shelton isn’t a big team meeting guy, so the areas that need to be addressed will be done so in private conversations.
“We've done some things good. We've done some things not good. Those things we haven't done well, we have to get better at, and address those individually."
• In his weekly medical update, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk gave some mixed news with Ke’Bryan Hayes' left wrist injury. He was making “daily improvements,” but what was initially thought to be a day-to-day injury might result in a stint longer than 10 days on the injured list.
Rushing him back, of course, is not an option.
“Taking the time, the necessary time, for that is very important for us, because he's an important part of our club,” Shelton said.
• On Wednesday night, Jameson Taillon made his Yankees debut and pitched in his first game since May 1, 2019. He went 4 ⅔ innings of two-run ball, striking out seven.
Shelton texted with him last night to congratulate him.
“I don't think there's a person in the Pirates' organization that isn't cheering for Jamo."