PITTSBURGH - Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson had a sinking feeling after being called into manager Lloyd McClendon's office Sunday morning. After all, few trips there in his four major league seasons have been pleasant ones.

This one was. Wilson, perhaps the NL's most surprising player this season, learned that he's going to the All-Star game as Pittsburgh's lone representative.

Wilson, the league leader with 113 hits, has known for weeks that he might be picked as an All-Star reserve, even though he trailed in the fan balloting. But he couldn't relax until he found out he made the team by receiving more votes from fellow NL players than any other shortstop.

Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that he homered in his first at-bat Sunday, helping the Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-2 and win their ninth in a row.

Asked if he thought about waiting until after the game to tell Wilson, McClendon said, "I had to tell him. It's been killing him."

"I haven't slept well for a couple of nights," Wilson said. "I never thought this was possible. This is the biggest honor of all ... and it probably won't hit me until I'm sitting on the field in Houston with my son, watching the home run derby."

Wilson is the first Pirates shortstop to make the All-Star game since Jay Bell in 1993 and only the second since Gene Alley in 1968.

Until this season, Wilson was an excellent fielder who could occasionally hurt an opposing team at the plate, but couldn't sustain his offense for an extended period. His career average was .246, and his best single-season average was last year's .256.

But finally settling in as the Pirates' No. 2 hitter, he found himself following the advice he constantly gave younger players such as outfielder Tike Redman and second baseman Jose Castillo. As a result, he's jumped his average to .339 - nearly 100 points above his career average - and has seven homers and 34 RBIs.

"When I talk to some of the (younger) guys now about hitting - how to go to right field and to not worry about going 0-for-3 - it forced me to do the same things myself," said Wilson, who grew up a Dodgers fan in Thousand Oaks, Calif. "I can't tell them to do one thing and do another."

Wilson, who looks younger than his age (26) and often plays with the emotion and exuberance of a Little Leaguer, also doesn't tear himself up if he goes hitless or misses a pitch he thinks he should have handled.

"He's going deeper into counts now, he's using the entire field to hit and he's not as worried about getting jammed," McClendon said.

He's also not getting called into McClendon's office for his transgressions nearly as much as before when, the manager said, "He knew the way there, yes."

Wilson's selection also justifies McClendon's confidence in Wilson.

The shortstop initially played for McClendon in a fall league before McClendon was hired as the Pirates' manager or Wilson was traded to them by St. Louis for reliever Jason Christiansen in 2000. It was McClendon who wanted Wilson promoted directly from Double-A to the Pirates' lineup in 2001.

"Did the All-Star game seem far away then?" Wilson said. "Major league baseball seemed far away. But I was always taught that you did your best, and everything would work out."

AP-ES-07-05-04 0005EDT