There's a forest, there's trees, and there's just this one giant Redwood. Good morning to you. Good Friday morning. One day on co-autrumbs for D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. This is a daily shot of pirates.

It comes your way bright and early every weekday.

If you're into football and or hockey, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Penguins

in the same place that you found this.

Club was off yesterday, traveling from Phoenix to San Diego.

They'll begin a three-game weekend set tonight at Petco Park against the Padres, eager to build,

I'm sure, off of those two ridiculous offensive outbursts to close out, winning the series

over the Diamondbacks just now.

So that's some of the trees.

That's the forest, I guess.

And we can all get caught up in that stuff.

The day-to-day stuff, the GM stuff, the ownership stuff, the payroll stuff.

Even the individual performances of the resident Redwood.

What Paul Skeens does on a start-to-start basis

really, really, really shouldn't be observed within the context of any of these meaningless games.

They should be observed, at least I think, in the literal prism of greatness.

I do not like overusing that term.

I save it for the Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby and Troy Palomalu and

T.J. Watt, the guys that are absolutely at the peak of their professions with what they

achieve. And even then, when it comes to Mario and Sid, there's another level up there.

Skeens, my friends, is living at that level. Let's step for a moment all the way back, meaning all

35 starts that he's made at the Major League level.

...