Or something that some old guy wrote in the newspaper. But if you are willing to separate what you're told from what you see in front of you, baseball comes down to one question. Do you believe me or your lyin' eyes?

Truth #1.  IT IS NOT TOUGHER TO PITCH IN THE FINAL INNING

The myth is that it's more difficult to get the final three outs than it is to get them in the previous inning.

That's like saying that a potential significant other is better looking at 2 a.m. than he or she is at 8 a.m. the next morning. An urban legend. An ugly person is an ugly person, 24-7.

No amount of alcohol should be able to convince you that it's more difficult to pitch with a one-run lead, nobody on base and three outs left... than it is to enter a game with the bases full and nobody out in the sixth inning. That dog not only won't hunt... the little critter can't even stand up on four legs.

If a pitcher gets hit in the ninth inning, he'd probably get hit in the eighth or the sixth as well. The new-age position called the 'closer' is based on a myth that some pitchers are so good that they will never be scored on.

All the great relief pitchers eventually get hit. All of them. The ones who potentially were better to begin with excelled in the 'closer' role because they were potentially that good, not because they had some intestinal fortitude or mystical strength that others didn't.

One of the biggest myths of sports is that people who succeed have more character, strength, toughness and work harder than people who don't. There are junior varsity basketball players who have more character and work harder than NBA Hall-of-Famers. They just don't have the crossover dribble and the 50-inch vertical jump.

To say that the closer who gets three outs with nobody on has more guts than the set-up man who escapes bases-loaded jams with the game tied one inning earlier is like saying that Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears are multi media stars because of their superior intelligence and classical music training.

You're missing something that's right in front of your face.

Truth #2. A BALL THAT GOES BETWEEN THE FIELDER'S LEGS IS ALWAYS AN ERROR

There are as many different baseball scoring formulas as there are interpretations of the bible. And for the same reason, people want to change what they see to fit how they want it to be.

I don't care if a ground ball is hit 100 miles an hour with hot sauce on it, if it goes between the legs of the fielder, 1.) He's lucky it wasn't a line drive and 2.) It IS an error.

Monday through Friday. 366 days a year. 52 weeks a year. Day games or night games. Baseball or softball.

You cannot change what is. An error is a play that a fielder fails to make that he could have made with average effort.

I don't care if you're Steve Wonder, if the ball goes between your legs, you could have had it with average effort. You didn't have to move.

Most people who score games do not know how.

If a player breaks for second on a steal attempt as the ball is being thrown, and he makes it, it is a stolen base. It does NOT MATTER if the catcher misses the ball, if he throws it into center field or if the catcher chooses not to make a throw.

I've heard that a runner should not be given a stolen base if a catcher chooses not to throw, that he advances on catchers indifference. That's like saying that a batter who hits a home run against a hurler who did not think he was going to swing on 3-0 and threw a straight, half speed fastball, should not be give four bases and an RBI because of 'pitcher's decision'. If he'd known the batter was going to swing, he'd have thrown a 'real' pitch, right?

In the major leagues there is such a thing as 'catcher indifference' for scorers. But scorers are mostly coked-out alcoholic sportswriters who can't see the game past the free food at the buffet table and major League baseball is a money-laundered supplement-juiced Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi version of the game. Things are not correct just because they do it in the major leagues.

Bottom line. EVERYTHING must be accounted for in scoring and you cannot judge the skill of the fielder, whether he really tried or whether it was his first game at that position.

Say what you see and tell it like it is. Like that great philosopher Tom Hanks said, 'There's no lying in baseball.'

There may have been a rule change that I haven't heard of, but a lead off home run cannot erase a two-run deficit. So, a batter who goes up to the plate and swings for the big fly, when his team needs base runners wins the Sammy Sosa selfish award.

I've heard all the excuses about how 'that's just the kind of hitter I am' and I've even heard coaches cover up by saying, "I want that hitter to stay aggressive."  It's wrong and they know it.

You also can't swing on 2-0 or 3-1 when you're more than a run behind and nobody's on base. That's like taking a two-point shot when you are three points behind with one second to play in basketball. It's like kicking a field goal on the final play of the game when you trail by six.

Athletes are extremely selfish by nature. They are taught from 'Day One' that it's all about them. Awards, accolades and, eventually, awards and What's good for 'thee' is what's good for me!!. That thought has to be broken. That trait has to be squashed and the sooner the better.

Baseball basics. Ready? You get four balls and three strikes. When you are up two in the count, (2-0 or 3-1) you can take the next pitch and you are almost always assured of a walk if it is a ball. And if the count is 2-0 or 3-1, the next pitch is most likely a ball because at least two of the last three already have been.

On the other hand, if you swing and put the ball in play, you will be out 50% of the time. Everybody is.

No matter how far you are behind, you can never catch up if your team never brings the tying run to the plate. If you are down two runs, and you are leading off, a walk brings the tying run to the plate.

You are mathematically far more likely to bring the tying run to the plate by taking a 2-0 or 3-1 pitch than you are by swinging if your team is more than a run behind.

So, it comes down to doing what's best for the team or doing what's best for your selfish, self-centered self.

It's up to you.

Truth #4. LEFT-HANDERS are better than RIGHT-HANDERS

If you want to be a baseball player, you are better off if you are left-handed. With the possible exception of Roberto Clemente, all of the truly great major league baseball hitters of the last 50 years a have been left-handed hitters or switch-hitters. Ichiro, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, Barry Bonds, George Brett, Rod Carew, Willie Davis, Pete Rose.

There are virtually no truly great right-handed MLB hitters (.320 or close for 10 years in a row) in the modern era because of specialization of relief pitchers and increased study of pitching.

I'm not talking about home run hitters. Those juiced up boys come and go. I'm talking about hitters. Anybody who can slip some green to 'Dr. Feelgood' down at the Players Union can 'make themselves a home run hitter if they don't care how many times they strike out or whether their children will have five or six toes.

But left-handed hitters are unquestionably better.  Why?  Four reasons:

1) Left-handed hitters, by nature, are low-ball hitters. Their swings are more golf-like than right-handed hitters who typically swing letter-high. Pitchers are taught from birth to keep the ball low, playing into the lefty hitter's hands.

2) Left-handed hitters are closer to first base. That's like saying that the sun comes up in the morning. The left-handed side of the batters box sits two steps closer to first base. They will unquestionably beat out more infield hits, no matter what speed they do or do not have.

4) Finally, the big one. It's easier for left-handed hitters to hit because they face more right-handed pitching. In MLB, about 70% of pitchers are right-handed. Most people are right-handed. In high school, almost 90% of pitchers are right-handed. Maybe more.

Left-handed hitters see and hit the ball better from a right-handed pitcher than they do from a left-handed pitcher, who appears to be throwing over the hitters right shoulder.

For years, left-handed people were considered freaks and perverts. To be left-handed was a social disease. Kids were forced to use their right hand as teachers and parents tried to beat the left-handedness out of them. Baseball changed all that. Now, the right is exclusively for politics. Left-handed hitters bat third, get their name in the paper and go to college for free.