The National League The Kevin Towers Mark Clements of MLB.com: "Justin Upton's 2012 numbers fall far below his All-Star pace from last season. Through 83 games this season, Upton has 82 hits, seven homers, 12 doubles and 38 RBIs. In 159 games in 2011, Upton totaled 171 hits, 31 home runs, 39 doubles and 88 RBIs." The Frank Wren Carroll Rogers of Atlanta-Journal Constitution: "Four starts into his return to the major leagues, Jair Jurrjens has won three games. He's limited each of his four opponents to three runs or fewer, while going seven or more innings twice." The Jed Hoyer Paul Sullivan of Chicago Tribune: "Carlos Zambrano's return to Wrigley Field this week will generally be greeted with a shrug. Zambrano pitched Monday night against the Nationals, and thus will be a spectator in the three-game Cubs-Marlins series, just as he was in April when the teams met in Miami." The Walt Jocketty Tyler Emerick of MLB.com: "Johnny Cueto will be hoping to put the Reds on a good foot Tuesday. The 26-year-old missed his last scheduled start due to a blister on his throwing hand but is expected to be fine. On the season, Cueto is 10-5 with a 2.39 ERA and 91 strikeouts." The Dan O-Dowd Troy E. Renck of Denver Post: "Michael Cuddyer has drawn interest from other teams, who love his power, competitiveness and attitude. Those happen to be the same reasons the Rockies want to keep him." The Michael Hill Dave Hyde of South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "This was one odd scene Monday. Ozzie Guillen shot more sparks of motivation at Washington's star young hitter while benching the Marlins' best hitter for the second straight game. That's how it's been around the Marlins all year. Everything feels a little odd. They've spent hundreds of millions on a closer who can't close, a lineup threatening to be the worst-hitting in team history and a big-name roster that, somehow, plays bad baseball." The Jeff LuhnowRandy Harvey of Houston Chronicle: "The Astros did set a franchise record for futility. They did lose 14 consecutive road games. That was the Astros of 1996-97, who started the streak at the end of one season and ended it after the start of another." The Ned Colletti Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.: "From the medical journal Duh, pitcher Chad Billingsley is not likely to start on Tuesday for the Dodgers, two days after getting scratched with right elbow inflammation. Don Mattingly said that Billingsley could miss just one start. The Dodgers could place Billingsley on the disabled list retroactive to July 8 and have him ready to start again next week in St. Louis." The Doug Melvin Tom Haudricourt of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Hopefully, someone gave Tyler Thornburg this bit of advice for his first experience in the major leagues: Expect the unexpected." The Sandy Alderson Anthony McCarron of New York Daily News: "Jason Bay knows the Mets crave another right-handed bat and said even before he played a rehab game Monday night for the Mets' Triple-A affiliate that he hoped he could rejoin the big-league club in Washington on Tuesday." The Ruben Amaro Jr. The Good Phight: "Let me join the chorus of people welcoming back Le Roi, king of pitchers. The Phillies, without Halladay, have gone 15-27 in his absence." The Neal Huntington David Todd of Bucs Dugout: "I've mentioned a bunch of times this month that if the Pirates continue to play well, the national media coverage is going to grow exponentially." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "When healthy this 2012 season Allen Craig has been a monster with the bat. Entering play on Sunday, the St. Louis slugger had a .398 wOBA, which would tie him for sixteenth in all of baseball if he were qualified for the batting title." The Josh Byrnes Gaslamp Ball: "August 16th is the date the MLB owners will vote whether to approve the O'Malley Group or send the Padres back into a downward spiral like they did at the beginning of the year." The Brian Sabean Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles: "Back in May, after a particularly awful stretch of Giants hitting, scientists at the McCovey Chronicles Institute of Baseball Learning published a groundbreaking research paper. In this seminal work, we discovered the San Francisco Giants swing at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone." The Mike Rizzo Adam Kilgore of Washington Post: "The Nationals' decision to shut down Stephen Strasburg just as they hit the stretch run already has started gaining steam as one of baseball's major second-half story lines." The American League The Dan Duquette Dan Connolly of Baltimore Sun: "Question marks abound for this team as the trade deadline approaches. I believe the Orioles are going to try to make a run and will attempt to add a hitter with a high on-base percentage and a starting pitcher. Obviously, we don't know whether those will be good moves until we know what the cost will be." The Ben Cherington Alex Speier of WEEI.com: "By the end of this week, for the first time all year, the Red Sox may have a pretty good approximation of the lineup they anticipated having in 2012. Though Will Middlebrooks has replaced Kevin Youkilis." The Kenny Williams Chicago Sun-Times: "A Massachusetts woman has been arrested in Wrigleyville and charged with stalking Theo Epstein." The Chris Antonetti Terry Pluto of Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "Now that Indians have released 2005 first-round pick Trevor Crowe, only three first-rounders remain in the entire organization." The Dave DombrowskiMark Emery of MLB.com: "On Tuesday, the Tigers will start Jacob Turner, a 21-year-old making just his fourth career Major League start and second of 2012. Turner allowed one run on four hits against the Cardinals on June 21. The righty went five innings, striking out three batters and issuing five walks." The Dayton Moore Jeff Zimmerman of Royals Review: "On Saturday in the 8th inning, Salvador Perez got his first walk of the season verses the White Sox. It took 55 plate appearances to get the walk." The Jerry DiPoto Halos Heaven: "It's well documented that Mark Teixeira bolted for the Yanks at the command of his wife. Looks like, based on the tweet of Trout's girlfriend, Angels' fans don't have to worry quite as much about Trout following suit." The Terry Ryan Jon Marthaler of Twinkie Town: "After the Twins were swept by Oakland over the weekend, it's time to admit defeat: this year's starting to look an awful lot like last year. In fact, the Twins are actually four games behind their pace from last year, so it might even be a worse version of last year, as painful as that is to admit." The Brian Cashman Mike Axisa of River Avenue Blues: "The Yankees have the best record in baseball and have more than survived the loss of Brett Gardner, but that doesn't mean this setback is insignificant. Raul Ibanez has played far more left field than expected and the Yankees are concerned about the 40-year-old wearing down as the season progresses, particularly in the scorching hot months of July and August." The Billy Beane Susan Slusser of San Francisco Chronicle: "Many people gave up on Chris Carter after he had several unsuccessful stints in the major leagues. The first baseman couldn't put up the numbers to stay, but it was more than that: His body language was poor, he appeared defeated, meek even, at the plate and in the field." The Jack Zduriencik Geoff Baker of Seattle Times: "One game doesn't make a season and surely we'll need to see more out of both Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak than just a few hard-hit balls off some bad Kansas City Royals pitching before pronouncing them "cured" of anything." The Andrew Friedman Roger Mooney of Tampa Tribune: "Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Monday on the MLB Network that he didn't think he would trade James Shields." The Jon Daniels Dallas Morning News: "Manchester United is the most valuable franchise in sports at $2.23 billion, according to Forbes magazine's annual survey. Seven major league baseball teams earned spots, with the Texas Rangers the lowest at $674 million, No. 50 overall." The Alex Anthopoulos Tom Dakers of Blue Jay Banter: "Anthony Gose is on his way to, or more likely already at, New York, just in case Jose (please don't be hurt) Bautista has to go on the DL. I'm glad they called someone up. Watching Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco play the corner outfield spots for an extended period would likely turn me into a soccer fan."

Pablo Sandoval and Melky Cabrera turned the All-Star game into a Giant blowout on Tuesday night. The San Francisco sluggers keyed a five-run blitz against Justin Verlander in the first inning that sent the NL to an 8-0 romp over the AL. Cabrera homered and won the MVP award, and Giants teammate Matt Cain started a strong pitching performance for the NL in its most-lopsided All-Star victory. "San Francisco Giants show," Matt Kemp of the Dodgers said during the game.

A record number of fans voted for Josh Hamilton to make the 2012 American League All-Star. The Rangers outfielder received 11.1 million votes, roughly 50 percent more than any other single player had ever received. "It means a lot," Hamilton said of the support. "It's very humbling, but at the same time it makes you proud that the fans want to see you play, that they take time out of their busy lives to watch you and vote for you. "I think they understand who I am and what I stand for, that I love Jesus. I hope they understand that when they're voting for me, because what better place to talk about Him than big events?"

Prince Fielder joined Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players to win multiple Home Run Derby titles on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium. Fielder thrilled the crowd with several shots into the right-field fountain, beating Toronto's Jose Bautista 12-7 in the final. "Just being mentioned with him is real special," said Fielder, who spent time at Griffey's house when he was a kid. "My dad would let me go over and play video games all day. He always took care of me when I was a kid."

NL manager Tony La Russa has chosen Giants right-hander Matt Cain to start Tuesday night's All-Star Game, the New York Daily News has reported, citing an unnamed source. The starters will be announced at a 1:30 p.m. ET news conference, during which the lineups for both teams will be made public, the report said. Detroit's Justin Verlander will oppose Cain, according to FoxSports.com.

R.A. Dickey is hoping that National League manager Tony La Russa will select him to start in Tuesday's All-Star Game. The knuckleballer completed the first half tied for the NL lead in wins with 12 and fifth in ERA at 2.40. "Look, I want to start the game. Of course I do," Dickey said. "I think any competitor would like to."

A blister will keep C.J. Wilson from Tuesday's All-Star Game and he has been replaced by Jake Peavy on the American League roster. Wilson, 9-5 with a 2.43 ERA, was one of four Angels selected to the game, joining Jered Weaver, Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo. Wilson said he has been battling issues with broken fingernails and blisters all season. "Last year, I went and obviously didn't do very well. I'd like to pitch well to get back for that, but it's not really worth it," Wilson said. "This is an issue I've been fighting all year."

Justin Verlander will start for the American League at Tuesday's All-Star Game in Kansas City. Verlander is 9-5 with a 2.58 ERA in 18 starts this season. He pitched a complete game against the Twins in his most recent start on Wednesday. "It would be fantastic, but I know there are some other guys out there having exceptional years," the right-hander said after that game. "I'd like to have that on my resume, but you aren't owed anything in this game. I'm not the only guy having a good season."

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper has been named by National League All-Star manager Tony La Russa to replace Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. Harper entered Saturday with a .283 batting average, eight home runs, 25 RBI and 42 runs scored in his 61 games played. The 19-year-old Harper, who was born on October 16, 1992, becomes the third youngest Major League All-Star ever and the youngest All-Star position player in history.

Davey Johnson seemed satisfied to learn that Nationals rookie Bryce Harper didn't make the National League All-Star team via the the annual fan vote for the final roster spot. "Good," the Washington manager said. "He's played every inning, he needs time off to catch his breath," Johnson said of Harper.