The Phillies do it with the long ball in beating Florida, 4 – 0. Raul Ibanez homers twice and Ryan Howard once. For Howard, it is the 200th home run of his career, in his 658th game; he is fastest to reach that mark, beating Ralph Kiner who took 706 games to hit 200 dingers. Jamie Moyer allows one hit over seven innings for the win.

The American League runs its unbeaten streak to 13 games (12 wins and a tie) by defeating the National League, 4 – 3, in the 80th All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The win enables the AL to finish the 2000s without losing any All-Star Game (9-0-1) in the decade, the first time either league has ever accomplished this feat. Carl Crawford of the Rays earns MVP honors by climbing over the left field fence to deprive Brad Hawpe of a home run in the 7th inning.

The Washington Nationals, owners of the worst record in the major leagues, fire manager Manny Acta. Bench coach Jim Riggleman takes over on an interim basis.

The Cubs and Cardinals split a day/night doubleheader at Wrigley Field. Chicago wins the opener, 7 – 3, on home runs by Micah Hoffpauir and P Carlos Zambrano, and the Cards take the nightcap, 4 – 2. Ryan Ludwick hits two two-run home runs to account for all of St. Louis’s runs; Adam Wainwright picks up his 10th win and Ryan Franklin strikes out the side in the 9th for his 21st save. As a result, the first four teams in the NL Central are within 3 1/2 games of each other heading into the All-Star break.

Washington has its best offensive game since relocating from Montreal in 2005 in beating Houston, 13 – 2. The Nats collect 21 hits – the most for them since the move – and Nick Johnson, Josh Willingham and Adam Dunn homer in consecutive at bats in the 6th, also a first. Craig Stammen pitches a complete game for the win.

The Yankees hit a season-high 5 home runs in Los Angeles, including two by Alex Rodriguez, but they still lose, 14 – 8, to the Angels, who have scored 24 runs in two games since their two most potent offensive weapons, Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter, hit the disabled list simultaneously on July 9th. Rodriguez moves past another steroid-tainted player, Rafael Palmeiro, for 10th on the all-time major league home run list.

Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants pitches the first major league no-hitter this season, blanking the San Diego Padres, 8 – 0. The Padres muster only one baserunner, on an error by 3B Juan Uribe.

The New York Mets deal Ryan Church to Atlanta for Jeff Francoeur in a trade of starting right fielders whose recent struggles have landed them on the bench.

The Seattle Mariners deal shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and cash to the Kansas City Royals for pitchers Daniel Cortes and Derrick Saito.

The Marlins set two team records in their win over Arizona: down 7 – 0 entering the 8th inning, they score 10 runs, led by Brett Carroll’s pinch-hit three-run homer, on their way to a 14 – 7 victory. It is both the highest-scoring inning and biggest comeback in team history. For their part, the D-Backs suffer their biggest-ever blown lead. Three pinch-hitters get two at-bats apiece in the 8th (Carroll, Ross Gload and Hanley Ramirez).