Fans express anger at Pirates’ home opener

Here’s a little food for thought after an Opening Day and Final Four weekend:

• Seriously, how many of you expected the Pirate fans to roundly boo manager Derek Shelton like they did when he was announced before Friday’s home opener?

Heck, I booed him loudly from my living room.

Watching how poorly his teams have played over the course of five sub-par seasons, it was no surprise. What is surprising is that the man still has his job in year six.

I know Shelton hasn’t had the best talent to mold into a team. But even the most average of players can at the very least play the game fundamentally sound in the field and on the bases.

The Pirates are probably the worst team in baseball when it comes to fundamental baseball.

• And the plane flying over PNC urging owner Bob Nutting to sell the team was priceless. It was in vain, but still priceless.

• On Opening Day, the Pirates sent Mitch Keller to the mound on a late Friday afternoon. The rain stayed away. And the New York Yankees were in the other dugout.

Yet this game was far from a sellout. The announced crowd for the opener was 37,000. But I guess a lot of fans were dressed in gray because I thought I saw a lot of gray seats (especially behind home plate) than there should have been.

That tells you the fans have had enough of the notorious cheapness of Nutting and the incompetence of GM Ben Cherington and Shelton.

As phenom Paul Skenes said, the City of Pittsburgh deserves better.

• It didn’t take long for chants of “Sell the team! Sell the team!” to break out Friday. They began in the top of the third inning.

• No doubt the Pirates brass expected better crowds at beautiful PNC Park for the series.

I honestly believe that was one of the reasons behind Skenes not taking the mound against the Bronx Bombers.

The fans wanted to see Skenes pitch against the Yankees. They wanted to see him face Aaron Judge at home.

I think the front office felt it was a better financial move to hold Skenes — who always draws a crowd — out of that series because the Yankees would take care of filling the seats.

• Jazz Chisholm Jr. was slotted in the third spot of one of the most potent lineups in all of baseball against the Bucs.

How good would he look in that spot for the Pirates?

Chisholm could have been had last summer if Cherington would have parted one or two decent prospects. But, no.

Yet another lost opportunity for the penny-pinching, prospect- hording franchise.

• So much was made about the Pirates ordering the new torpedo bats after the results the Yankees had using them in their opening series.

However, it should be noted that the secret to get the full effect of the new technology in the bats is to have some talent in the players swinging them.

• The Final Four Saturday night in San Antonio did not fail to impress as always, unless of course you are a Duke fan.

The collapse against Houston might have been one of the biggest and most surprising I ever witnessed.

The Blue Devils, who had been beating opponents by an average of over 20 points per game in the tournament, blew a 14-point second half lead against Houston in a 70-67 defeat.

How does a team with so many potential lottery picks in the lineup manage to score just one field goal in the final 10 minutes of the game?

I thought going into the tournament that Duke was far and away the best team in the field, and nothing happened to change that thinking until Saturday night’s debacle.

• In a rarity, both Final Four games came in under the betting totals Saturday.

The Florida-Auburn betting total was 157.5 points and the final score was 79-73 after the teams combined to score over 80 points in the first half.

The total for Duke-Houston was 137.5. I thought the over would be a lock. But after a low-scoring first half, the game ended up just a half-point under the total.

• The weekend events gave us all a reprieve from the Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers saga. I personally don’t care whether the aging three-time MVP joins the team or not. I just remain hopeful that the Steelers will draft Jaxson Dart in the first round.

Anyone with any thoughts, opposing views or comments on this column can reach Jeff Oliver by emailing justjto@ verizon.net.