Adrian Beltre's career year isn't enough to land him in Houston. Brad Mangin/SI

I am not here to make a pitch for Bobby Abreu, Adrian Beltre or any of the other shoulda-been All-Stars who are waking up this morning thinking, "Man, what do I have to do?" The fact is, these guys would rather be sipping umbrella drinks by their backyard pools than running around in full uniform during a hot Houston summer night anyway.

There are always curiosities when it comes to the rosters for baseball's All-Star Game. Even with expanded rosters (you can now vote online for the 32nd man on each team, which makes the All-Star squads only slightly smaller than the Diamondbacks' disabled list), everybody who deserves to be on these teams can't fit. Not with fan favorites such as Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. taking up space.

I'd like to point out that the Phillies' Abreu ought to be on the National League team, even with that pantheon of home run hitters in the outfield. I'd like to point out that the Dodgers' Beltre belongs at third base, alongside the world's greatest third baseman, Scott Rolen.

Yes, the White Sox's Paul Konerko probably ought to be on the AL team (and he may yet be voted in as one of the candidates for the last man), and Eric Milton of the Phillies has won 11 games, but he can't seem to sniff the NL roster. I like Milwaukee's Lyle Overbay, too, but we won't go there.

I'm not going to point any of this out -- well, any more than I already have, OK? -- because it just doesn't matter. If you're going to get all worked up about who didn't make the All-Star teams, you're already taking this thing waaaaaay too seriously.

Here's the bottom line on Nomar Garciaparra's pouting at Yankee Stadium last week: You gotta at least act interested. You gotta at least look like you want your team to win. Injured or not, able to play or not, dissed or not, angry or not, worried about your future or not, you have to be a part of the team. No sulking in the dugout. Yes, the Red Sox didn't do right by him this offseason. That's over. It's up to Nomar to be a pro now. How does Randy Johnson keep doing it? On a crumbling ballclub, the Diamondbacks' ace threw a complete-game five-hitter, striking out 10 in an Arizona win Sudnay. Afterward, he handed the ball to Al Pedrique, the team's new manager, and congratulated him on his first victory. As long as the Unit is around, Pedrique will have a few more wins coming. "I appreciate the interest in the Sox. But it gets a little bit ... different." -- Boston manager Terry Francona last week, the day after an epic 13-inning loss to the Yankees

This is, as has been said here on more occasions than I'd like to count, an exhibition. It's for the fans. Major League Baseball, correctly, has given Joe Ticketholder a vote in the game, and so fans pick the starters. They can vote for Sammy Sosa if they want to see Sammy Sosa. Or Tike Redman, for that matter.

It's supposed to be up to the players and managers to round out the team, to pick up what the fans miss -- and, again, baseball has the idea right on this, too -- but, the truth is, it's not like the guys who wear the uniforms always get the thing right, either. Otherwise, Beltre would be on the NL team.

The point is, whoever votes, however they vote, and however big they make the rosters, the process is never going to be perfect or close to it. If the roster is 32, or twice that size, someone's going to get left off. (Montreal's Endy Chavez, for an example, would be pretty perturbed if he didn't make that 64-man team, and he'd have every right to be.)

I mean, I don't understand how the Rangers' Alfonso Soriano gets the most fan votes, but that's fine. I don't get how the Yankees' Jason Giambi is the starter at first base in the American League, or how Esteban Loaiza makes the squad over teammate Konerko.

But, listen. That's my problem. There were some 141 million ballots cast online. Millions more of the paper kind were punched out at ballparks around the nation. A good deal of thoughtful consideration went into this. And if it wasn't all that thoughtful, well, that's OK, too. Not everybody takes elections all that seriously. How else can you explain that almost 3 million people voted for Ralph Nader in 2000?

More than five-dozen Major League Baseball players -- at least one from each team and several more than that from the Yankees -- will be in Houston early next week for the All-Star Game. Almost every one of them will play, too, in a game that most take only semiseriously. Remember, for the 101st time: despite what baseball says, it's only an exhibition. So relax. And enjoy.

I still say Melvin Mora ought to have a place on the AL team, though.

• An offensively inept team in the struggling NL West fires its manager. It was Bob Brenly last week. It could be Jim Tracy if the Dodgers don't get their act together in the next couple of weeks.

• The Mets are in second place in the NL East as the week opens. And the NL West is supposedly struggling?

• It wasn't that long ago when Rickey Henderson grabbed another record we all thought would be untouchable -- most walks in a career. Then Barry Bonds started doing what he does, and NL pitchers started doing what they do, and ... well, look who has the record now. And, really, this one won't be broken.

• Ooooooh! Aaaaaah! A battery of Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza at the All-Star Game. Oooooh! Aaaaaaah! (Just doing my part to hype a meaningless story in a meaningless game.)

• Giambi, one of the side figures in the BALCO probe, is expected to take part in the All-Star Game Home Run Derby next Monday. Make what you want of that.

• Purists can now breathe easier: interleague play is done for another year. The Cardinals (11-1 against the AL), for one, are sorry to see it go.

The real E-Bag runs every Friday. This is a cheapie knockoff I bought on the sidewalk in Times Square last weekend.

How does Cleveland get four All-Stars, Detroit get two and the Twins and White Sox get two COMBINED? And how does Eric Milton not make the NL squad? What a joke.
 -- Adam, Elk Run Heights, Iowa

	MAILBAG Comments, questions or obviously unfounded criticism? To e-mail Donovan, use the form below. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Hard for me to argue with any of the picks from Cleveland or Detroit. And, quite honestly, who would you pick from the Twins beside Joe Nathan? Lew Ford? You might have a beef with Paul Konerko of the White Sox not being there, but he could yet be voted in by the fans. And Milton? His 11 wins are nice. His 4.48 ERA is not.

I love seeing that Bud Selig is out talking about how well baseball is doing now. It's definitely nice compared to the anti-baseball marketing campaign he'd been on since almost his first day in office. One thing I don't understand from your column, though: Why do you think rising attendance and ratings should lead baseball to lower prices? I am no economist, but I think I have a fairly decent grasp on the concepts of supply and demand, which sportswriters tend to forget when writing columns like this. As long as people are willing to pay such ridiculous prices, what possible motivation would teams have to lower them? Why should baseball be any different from any other business (ridiculous antitrust exemption aside)? In every other business, the market sets the price. As long as the demand is there, why should baseball ignore it?
 -- Bob Johnson, Toledo, Ohio

Look, Bob, I did my time in economics in college, too. I understand. If the dummies are willing, make 'em pay. All I'm looking for, as a fan, is a little goodwill gesture from the guys who are lifting my wallet. Just a little kiss before booting me out the door. Honestly, I don't expect it. I'm just saying it would be ... nice. And it wouldn't even cost them that much.

In response to Cindy who asked why Ichiro has his first name on his jersey, according to a profile I saw on him, when he went pro (in Japan) there were about eight other guys named Suzuki in the league. His manager convinced him to put Ichiro on his shirt to set him apart from the other Suzukis. True or not, I don't know, but that's what I heard (and if Fox Sports said it, it MUST be true! Right?)
 -- Philip, Seattle

Lots of mail on this letter from last week's E-Bag -- and lots of it was really out there, too. Suzuki went by Ichiro in Japan because there were lots of other Suzukis on his team. Here, he asked to go by Ichiro. "It is Ichiro's preference to be identified by his first name only," a Mariners release said back when he was a rookie. "He is the only current Major League Baseball player to have his first name on his jersey."

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.