Hideo Nomo's omission from the All-Star team is glaring, and could easily have been avoided. Outfielder Brian Giles should have been Pittsburgh's representative instead of reliever Mike Williams, thus making room for Nomo. Preston Wilson of Colorado could have been dropped to make room for Giles.

Nomo, I suspect, will still make the team - in injured teammate Kevin Brown's spot. (Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus on Brown: "It's hard to gauge how his amazing pain tolerance will affect his comeback, but abdominal injuries are notoriously slow healers and there's no way to work around them.") There will be a huge movement to include Florida's Dontrelle Willis, who along with Nomo has been both a phenomenon and a success, but I expect the rosters to shuffle enough between now and July 15 to include both.

But we'll see. As my cousin James would say, "Weisman - you're always wrong."

In passing, I want to voice my support for including a representative from each team in the All-Star Game. It is my firm opinion that many people - especially younger fans - tune into the game first and foremost to see their team colors represented. With rosters of 32 per team, there's no reason this desire can't be accomodated. It's simply a matter of choosing the right guy.