Sometimes it is best to save yourself for another day...

Sometimes it is best to save yourself for another day...regroup and get it done tomorrow.

And so it goes in baseball, too. Yesterday afternoon, the Tucson Golden Aces (65-over-division) took it on the chin in their opening-round game at the Men's Senior Baseball League (MSBL) World Series. The Aces lost to a team from Terre Haute, Indiana, 21-11, at the San Diego Padres training facility in Peoria, Arizona.

When the wheels come off, well...they just come off...and there is nothing much you can do about it, but gut it out and then prepare for the next game. The Aces were quickly burning out their pitching staff when yours truly was forced to move from my position at third base to the pitching mound. Now mind you, I'm not a pitcher...far from it. But thanks to a little luck (and boy did we need it) somehow I survived. Thanks go out to my buddy, shortstop Jay Hayner (see photo above), and the umpire behind the plate, who decided to be generous with the strike zone.

I was able to stop the bleeding and get us back into the dugout for one final at bat. With a runner on second and no outs...and moments after the Terre Haute team had plated its 21st run, I toed the rubber and unleashed my first ever pitch in my short history of the MSBL World Series.

The ball sailed over my catcher's head and bounced off the backstop. I had 'em scared. The batter then hit a line drive to Jay, who fought off a glaring sun, caught the ball and doubled the runner off of second base. Two outs, would you believe!

The next batter hit one of my blazing fastballs (just kiddin') and bounced a slow roller to second base for the final out. And so goes my first -- and probably only -- appearance as a pitcher at the MSBL World Series. Thanks, Jay...I needed that!

The Tucson Golden Aces will try to even their series record today when they take on a team from New England at the Milwaukee Brewers' spring training facility at Maryvale Park. Game time: 9:30 a.m.