Now that the non-waiver trade deadline is behind us, we have even more interest in watching the Boston Red Sox – even if they start the week playing the 52-60 Kansas City Royals. Jason Bay is 4-for-11 with his new team, scoring two runs in each of his three appearances.

Over in Los Angeles, Manny Ramirez has been more impressive to Dodgers fans: 8-for-13 with two home runs. Sadly, Juan Pierre is still in the starting outfield, but L.A. has still climbed over Arizona on the National League odds list. Next up for the Dodgers: the St. Louis Cardinals, struggling to stay in the NL Central race.

Things pick up again later in the week with matchups featuring teams that are in direct competition. St. Louis is going to Wrigley Field to face the Chicago Cubs, and the Florida Marlins are in the Big Apple to take on the New York Mets.

The most successful corporations know how to spread the wealth around the community. Major League Baseball is very successful indeed. They’re turning the All-Star Game into a big-time display of philanthropy, giving away over $7 million to the New York City area and spending countless hours on charity work.

My personal favorite on the week’s list of events was the stickball tournament they played on Sunday in Harlem. Willie Mays (above photo) was on hand to cheer on the kids; the game ended in a 9-9 tie, but this was one All-Star event where a tie was entirely satisfactory.

Mays was a stickball legend in Harlem. When Mays was a member of the New York Giants, he would sometimes play with the neighborhood kids before a home game. “That’s how I learned to hit a breaking ball,” Mays told Salon back in 1999. Mays could hit it three sewers, i.e. three manhole covers away. Now that would make a great All-Star competition.

It’s inevitable. Major League Baseball will institute some form of video replay. We have the technology – and we clearly have the need.

There isn’t supposed to be anything subjective about baseball’s rules. We know that’s hardly the case; put a dozen umpires in a room, and you’ll get 13 different interpretations of the strike zone. But there is no wiggle room whether a ball is foul or fair, a home run or off the wall. These are critical calls that umpires sometimes miss, even in the playoffs with a six-man crew. For example, we nearly had a home run by Yankees’ leadoff hitter Johnny Damon kept off the scoreboard in Game 1 of the ALDS against Cleveland.

The argument against replay usually boils down to “the human element.” We’ve seen far too many instances in other sports where the human element becomes the criminal element. Does MLB need its own Tim Donaghy before we get instant replay?

Now that Barry Bonds has broken Hank Aaron’s MLB record of 755 home runs, the last frontier is Sadaharu Oh’s world record of 868. However, Bonds suggested recently that he doesn’t foresee himself playing in 2008.

Then again, after he missed most of 2005, people wondered if Bonds would even catch Aaron. But he’s enjoyed a relatively healthy campaign, playing in 103 of San Francisco’s first 118 games (sometimes as a pinch hitter) and clubbing 24 home runs. At that rate, he would finish the year with 33 dingers.

The remainder of the season is bound to play out a little differently. The Giants have a lot of National League West matchups from here on in; the Padres have given up the fewest homers in the majors at 80, and the Dodgers are the fourth-stingiest team at 95. Without delving too deeply into park factors, let’s chalk up 30 home runs for Bonds in 2007.