With the selection process as it is and the requirement that every team must be represented, there are always going to be some key All-Star snubs. It's the nature of the beast. Getting worked up about the National League batting leader, Nomar Garciaparra, not being selected has no payoff but to possibly shorten your life if you fret too much about such things. Yet, debating who was snubbed and who shouldn't be part of the Midsummer Classic is part of the annual discussion that consumes baseball fans. So, how does the major league leader in homers and RBIs among catchers, Baltimore's Ramon Hernandez, miss out on an All-Star berth? He's been far more productive than Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez, who was voted the starter by fans, and there wasn't room to add Hernandez to the roster. He can be selected for the last roster spot through the AL Final Vote at mlb.com. So can Garciaparra in the NL Final Vote. And how is it that only one Tiger makes the AL roster, with Detroit poised to finish the first half with the best record in the game? One could argue that Magglio Ordonez would be a better pick than Gary Matthews Jr. of Texas, as the Tigers' right fielder has posted better raw numbers despite Detroit's home park being far more pitcher-friendly than the one in Arlington, Texas. Might this be a case of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sticking it to Ordonez, with whom he had a verbal feud following the outfielder's departure from Chicago? The one-player-from-every-team requirement puts Kansas City's Mark Redman (5-4, 5.59 ERA) on the roster, but Detroit rookie Justin Verlander (10-4, 3.13) is far more deserving. The same can be said for fellow rookie Francisco Liriano, as well as veterans Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett and a host of others. Isn't it time the game does away with that requirement, considering the All-Star Game decides something as important as home-field advantage in the World Series? If it was abolished, there might have been an AL roster spot for as many as three more-worthy candidates, such as Hernandez, Ordonez, Cleveland's Travis Hafner, Carlos Guillen of the Tigers, Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford, Joe Nathan of the Twins and the AL pitchers previously mentioned.