While Justin Verlander might have been the only logical choice to start the MLB All-Star Game last night, he certainly wasn’t the smartest choice. Verlander is a pitcher who relies on repetition and building up his arm in each start. Last night, he didn’t have that luxury and instead of coming out with his 92 MPH fastball, Verlander tried to ramp it up to 99 MPH and lost command of his pitches. And the American League, before they could bat, lost control of the game.

The National League won 8-0. Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera won the MVP award, though his Giants teammate Pablo Sandoval easily could have won the award. In fact, the entire National League pitching staff could have shared the award. They allowed 0 runs on just 6 hits against the American League’s best hitters. Only Clayton Kershaw surrendered more than 1 hit.

With the win, the National League’s champion will have home-field advantage in the World Series. The National League has won the previous two All-Star Games and the previous two World Series championships.

Dwight Howard has not been traded yet.

So, the Botelho Bulletin will likely not appear over the next few days. There are no Major League Games between now and Friday night. There’s a AAA All-Star Game tonight, but, really no one should care about that, outside of Royals prospect Wil Myers.

If something big happens over the next few days, like a Dwight Howard trade, I will update.

With it being the All-Star break, your editors decided to put a bow on the first half of the MLB season.

The American League is shaping up to be a two-team race between the Yankees and Rangers. Each team leads their respective divisions thanks in large part to their offensive production. The Yankees have been beset with injuries on the mound, but have more than stayed afloat in the absence of CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera. Texas has not had much bad luck fall on them this season, save for the loss of Neftali Felix, and has been a near wire-to-wire leader in the AL West.

The team to look out for in the AL is the Angels, who have surged over the last month and a half, thanks in large part to Rookie of the Year favorite Mike Trout, who leads the league in batting average and stolen bases. The Angels boast a solid pitching rotation and have gotten great bullpen work out of players you’ve never heard of.

In the senior circuit (that’s the National League), things are a little more unclear. Your current division leaders are the Nationals, Pirates, and Dodgers.  Had you gone to Vegas in March and bet on that trifecta, you too would own a dressage horse by now.

Each of those teams, unlike their AL counterparts, have gotten by thanks to pitching. But the Natratgers are not the only contenders in the NL. San Francisco, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Arizona, and Atlanta all possess realistic shots at overtaking their division leaders.  Look for the NL to have a wild finish in late September.

AL MVP: Mike Trout (OF/Los Angeles)

NL MVP: Joey Votto (1B/Cincinnati)

AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout (OF/Los Angeles)

NL Rookie of the Year: Wade Miley (SP/Arizona)

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander (SP/Detroit)

NL Cy Young: RA Dickey (SP/New York)

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. The festivities (Anthem, player introductions, etc.) begin at 7:30 p.m. on FOX. The game will start sometime around 8 p.m. Matt Cain will start for the National League. Justin Verlander will start for the American League. The game is played in Kansas City, Missouri.

If don’t watch the All-Star Game, but you didn’t miss a Republican debate, you should be sent to North Korea immediately.

What Roger Federer did over the last fortnight is no small wonder. For years now, the mainstream media (who only follows tennis 3 times a year…sorry Australia!) has said that Roger is done. Wimbledon was supposed to be Novak Djokovic’s time. The Serbian seemed poised to officially separate himself from Federer and Nadal. This looked even more likely when Nadal was eliminated by Guy Whose Name We’ve Already Forgotten, early on in the tournament.

Federer and Djokovic’s seminfinal matchup really wasn’t ever close.  Federer won in 4 sets to advance to the finals. In the championship, he would face Brit Andy Murray. Murray arrived in the finals with the weight of Queen Elizabeth on his back as he was the first Englishman to play in a Wimbledon final in over 70 years.

Murray jumped out to a rather easy first set victory. Then Roger (and the rain) arrived and put to bed any hopes that Murray could vault himself into the true upper echelon of men’s tennis. Federer’s Wimbledon victory is his 7^th and first since 2009. Today, Roger will return to the #1 spot in the ATP rankings of tennis players.

Federer turns 31 next month. He is, by most metrics, at the point when his career will begin to decline. But for two weeks in London, in the summer of 2012, he looked like a 20 year old again.

With the NBA’s free agency period underway, there has been a lot of movement over the last week.

The biggest story, of course (sorry Nick Young) was Steve Nash agreeing to a sign-and-trade with the Los Angeles Lakers. Nash will give LA the floor general they’ve lacked since Magic Johnson left (don’t go into a thing about Derek Fisher…just don’t).  Nash might be 93 years old, but he still possesses better on-court vision than anyone in the sport. He makes LA an instant contender for the 2012-13 season.

3,000 miles away, Ray Allen decided to leave the Boston Celtics and join their current Eastern Conference rival, the Miami Heat. He’ll give Miami the aging wing player with aching legs that they so desperately already possess.

Elsewhere, Deron Williams resigned with the Brooklyn Nets, thanks, maybe (?) to the Nets acquisition of Joe Johnson from Atlanta for a package of spare change, Devin Harris, and Thanksgiving leftovers.

In non-free agent news, Team USA announced their final roster for the 2012 Olympics. It is as follows: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Andre Igoudala, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love, Eric Gordon, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Chris Bosh, and Rudy Gay. They are considered the light favorites.

Baseball entered its All-Star break last night. The Home Run Derby will be played tonight at 8:00 (ESPN). Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gonzalez, and Carlos Beltran will swing for the NL. Robinson Cano, Prince Fielder, Josh Hamilton, and Jose Bautista will swing for the AL.

Tomorrow will feature a first-half recap. There is no game of the day today (other than the Derby) because there are no games.