Derek Shelton blames everybody but himself after another Pirates meltdown

August will forever haunt Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton. He's had enough of his club failing to close out ballgames routinely this month. Blowing a seven-run lead over the final four innings against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday was the last straw.

Shelton went berserk in his postgame press conference, illustrating his frustration. Pittsburgh's recurring theme of late-game blunders has ostensibly taken a toll on him. So, he blasted his team for letting what should've been a convincing victory slip away, not taking accountability for his contributions (or lack thereof).

"My concern level is we've got to finish games," Shelton said when asked about the direction the Pirates are heading. "We look at the games at the games we've lost in August. It's because we have not finished games. I mean, how many of these games have we had the lead? How many of these games have we been one strike away? One pitch away? So yeah, we've got to figure out how to finish games."

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Derek Shelton blames everybody but himself after another Pirates meltdown

Acknowledging Pittsburgh's deficiencies is critical, especially for a developing team that's one of the youngest in the MLB. But as the head of the snake, Shelton must take responsibility for not putting the Pirates in better positions to seal contests. Instead, he bashes his players for their struggles:

"There's no complacency, it's execution. We've got to execute -- we're not executing. If you don't execute at the end of games, you don't win games. That's what's happened to us in August. It's what we did a really good job of in June and July, so we need to figure it out.

The Cubs mounted a furious comeback, defeating the Pirates 14-10. Catcher Christian Bethancourt led the way, going 3-for-5 from the plate with one home run and seven RBIs. Pittsburgh's bullpen allowed 11 runs in their final three frames of work -- it was a total meltdown. Yet somehow, everyone but Shelton is liable. 

Shelton sounded like Tim Robinson when he crashed his hot dog-shaped car through a window in his hit Netflix show I Think You Should Leave. "We're all trying to find the guy who did this," the latter said as he was dressed in his glizzy costume.

Falling to 62-71, FanGraphs' playoff odds projections give the Pirates a 0.0 percent chance of reaching the postseason. Pittsburgh has gone 7-18 in August. Shelton isn't entirely to blame, but he definitely deserves a share of the pie.