In the June drafts of 2002, 2006 and 2007, major league teams selected a total of 51 pitchers in the first round. Of those 51, 29 have pitched in the majors. Of the 29 who have pitched in the majors, 8 have pitched in the World Series.

Of those 8, 3 just won the World Series for the San Francisco Giants, making the Giants the first team to win the World Series with three of their own first-round picks in their rotation. It is the best and clearest evidence yet that growing one’s own pitchers is the antidote to the pitching plague that afflicts everyone and everyone complains about.

Not everyone can do it, but the Giants have done it: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, baseball’s historic three musketeers.

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From the start of his year to the end, defense played a major role in Brooks Conrad’s first full season in the major leagues. His defensive play in spring training earned Conrad a job as a utility infielder with Atlanta, and it earned him a seat in the dugout for the last game of the Braves’ year and Bobby Cox’s storied managerial career.

Conrad’s post-season performance will be far more unforgettable than what he did to win a job as a 30-year-old rookie. Conrad, in fact, gained a special status as the poster boy of a post-season in which no one has seemingly been able to catch the ball cleanly or throw it accurately.

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This is Bud Selig’s favorite time of year. Of course, it’s World Series time, and the World Series should be the favorite time of the year for the baseball commissioner.

But it’s not just the World Series. It’s what the World Series represents. Since 2003 the World Series, with the All-Star game, has represented the most infamous baseball linkage since McGwire and Sosa.

It matters not that homefield advantage hasn’t meant a thing in this post-season and that the link with the All-Star game hasn’t done a thing for Fox’s television ratings, which were supposed to benefit from the link. Now Selig has a different reason for liking the link.

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