Joe Torre tried to give us something All-Star Game-related to rail against, but he failed. Almost.

He abandoned his no-pitchers-on-Sunday-shall-pitch-on-Tuesday and included the profoundly deserving Oakland pitcher, Barry Zito. He took only three extra New York Yankees instead of the expected 11 (Sterling Hitchcock and Shane Spencer, screwed again!).

	Oakland's Miguel Tejada piled up 29 RBI in June.

He was nearly statesmanlike, in fact, in a job that had in recent years (Torre, Bobby Cox, etc.) had become a patronage assignment to help deserving fellows on his own team.

But he did give us one thing to chew on awhile -- the five-shortstop entrée. And while this may not got go over well in the Miguel Tejada house, that's just too nonsensical to ignore.

At least most of the time, anyway. This may just be a one-shot deal to reward a guy who might otherwise be doomed to a life as Miss Congeniality.

Tejada is, by any reasoned analysis, the fifth shortstop in a group that includes Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter and, at least this year, Omar Vizquel. The first three are beyond Tejada's reach, at least for now, but Vizquel put up comparable batting numbers (.295, 10 homers, 45 RBIs to Tejada's .299, 13, 59) this year while remaining absurdly superior as a fielder.

This leads to two questions.

One, didn't Vizquel write exhaustively about Albert Belle corking his bat?

And two, what's wrong with being the best player not to go to the All-Star Game?

Given that, even with expanded rosters, Tejada could spend his entire career being that guy, it is a pertinent question.

You see, even though the rosters have been expanded and could be expanded again to the point where it becomes youth soccer (everyone makes the team, everyone plays), there is still a logical limit to the number of players at any given position, and they are limits based on years of experimentation, trial, error and having to use pitchers to bat in the ninth inning.

Nine pitchers, 10 at the most ... two catchers ... no more than three at any infield position ... seven outfielders, max. You mix, you match, you play baseball cards on your desk, and you end up with a team that leaves a few people off and causes a little conversation for a game that has lost much of its gift for fascination.

But with Tejada, you have the unusual situation of a player who can nearly, but not absolutely, match The Rod of A, the Mar of No or the Ter of Jee. They are better than Tejada by just barely enough.

It may be that Tejada, playing Oakland, doesn't have the might of the New York-Boston media axis at his back, or that he has yet to make his first $22.5 million in baseball, let alone his first $252 million, as Rodriguez will. It may also be as simple as Tejada's one failing as a player, namely, his absolute insistence that there is no grounder so routine that it cannot be turned into a scene from "The Buena Vista Social Club.''

Whatever the reason, there is that divide between Tejada and the three men ahead of him, and barring injury, retirement or an expensive divorce, that divide will persist awhile longer.

The problem here lies in the one real caprice left in the All-Star selection process --- a player on every team. With adequate deference to Jim Thome, Vizquel has been the Indians' best player, especially now that Bartolo Colon has become one of the Expos' best players, and since you have to have an Indian anyway, he must be that man.

Thus, Tejada's one area of vulnerability -- not that the Big Three will back up toward him, but that someone may, at least for three months, threaten him from below.

Expanding the roster again isn't the answer, because five shortstops is still excessive. Besides, at this point, managers would only be naming more players who only sit and watch, and the only thing worse than not playing in an All-Star Game is not being asked to.

So maybe, just maybe, Torre decided to give Tejada a break he might never otherwise get -- a chance to get what he deserves rather than what the system normally allows. Throw in the Zito selection after he was adamant about not taking pitchers whose normal turn in the rotation is the previous Sunday, and Torre has been downright conciliatory to the A's, a team that given them their healthiest scares in the recent past.

And with the no-Sunday-pitchers rule, whether enforced or not, Torre may have inadvertently pointed out a way to make the All-Star Game better.

Play it on Wednesday. Give baseball a full off-day on Monday for travel and trade rumors, have the inane festivities (home run derby, skill competitions, quilting for speed, etc.) on Tuesday, play Wednesday, take Thursday to send the All-Stars back to their day jobs and resume the schedule on Friday, the way they normally do.

The advantages are clear -- an extra day of rest for any All-Star with a mild case of the blahs, or for a pitcher to recuperate from that Sunday start. Plus, it gives the rank and file an even more meaningful holiday with the family. Who could possibly complain, unless it was Larry Bowa discussing Scott Rolen, or Scott Rolen discussing Larry Bowa?

It's an idea, just as the five shortstops rule is an idea, too. The difference is that the first one is actually quite good, while the second one makes very little sense.

Unless, of course, you're Miguel Tejada, and why shouldn't he get what he wants once in awhile, too?

Ray Ratto is a columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle and a regular contributor to ESPN.com