There are some fans who have been critical of the celebrity 7th inning stretch, a tradition that began after Harry Caray passed away and continues to this day.

I've always been supportive of it, even considering the interview is sometimes challenging. If you caught Monday night's wild ride with Erik Estrada, that's one of the reasons it's a tradition worth keeping.

He made up his own lyrics at the end of the song and then took over the show for about 10 minutes in the bottom of the 7th in what was a classic/infamous moment in Cubs broadcasting history.

I do feel bad that he will be criticized for an unfortunate use of words in regards to his crusade AGAINST child pornography on the internet. The sentence in question simply came out wrong, but I think within the context of his point, everyone knew what he meant.

Then there was the mention of a certain adult film star (probably a first in Cubs broadcasting history) along with some other jaw-dropping lines regarding some B-list colleagues from a reality show he was on a few years ago.

Sometimes the bottom of the 7th is all baseball, sometimes it's about Tammy Faye Baker and Ron Jeremy. You just never know what each game will bring.

By the way, as Bob mentioned on the air last night, Erik was GREAT with all the fans who wanted pictures and autographs. He was one of the nicest guests we've ever had on the air with us.

Len

*Both teams have hovered around .500 all season. The Braves have been right at even 18 times and the Cubs 17 - 2nd and 3rd-most in the majors behind the Twins (20).

*The Braves are good early with a run differential of +33 in innings 1-5, 6th best in baseball. They're bad late with an MLB-worst -45 run differential from the 6th inning on.

*Cub pitchers have done a good job of finishing off innings this year, allowing 108 2-out runs, trailing only SF (106) for fewest allowed.

*Since the start of last season, Ryan Dempster leads all pitchers with 18 home wins.

* Atlanta won five straight from June 28-July 3, but dropped two consecutive 5-3 decisions to the Nats in Washington on Saturday and Sunday. The Braves are now just 3-8 in their last 11 road contests overall.
* The Cubs beat the Brewers, 8-2, on Sunday to take three of four from Milwaukee over the long weekend and are now 7-1 in their last eight games at Wrigley Field.
* The Braves took two of three from the Cubs last month in Atlanta, but Chicago has beaten Atlanta four straight times at home by a combined score of 30-10. The Cubs have homered in six straight home games vs. the Braves (11 HR during streak).
* Brian McCann (reserve) was the lone Braves' representative selected to participate in the 2009 All-Star Game while the Cubs will send pitcher Ted Lilly to St. Louis in eight days. Lilly picked up his 99^th career victory yesterday, going 6.1 innings and allowing just two runs while striking out nine in the win.
* Jair Jurrjens recorded his first win since May 29 in his last start and will be facing the Cubs for the first time in his career tonight. Jurrjens is 3-2 with a 2.44 ERA on the road in 2009.
* Derrek Lee went deep yesterday and now has four home runs in his last five games. Lee has eight home runs in his last 18 games overall - tied with Albert Pujols for most in the majors since June 18.

The Cubs have some interesting moves to make in a couple days as 3 players are set to come off the DL (Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson, Angel Guzman).

The most interesting questions involve 3 guys who weren't really on the radar when the season began--Andres Blanco, Jake Fox and Sam Fuld.

All 3 have made nice contributions lately, yet in this numbers game, sometimes roster moves have more to do with options than pure performance. It's just a simple reality of the game.

Along those lines, Mike Fontenot does have options, so he could be vulnerable.

Blanco does not, so the guess here is that he stays. Fox and Fuld do have options, which makes a demotion possible for one or both, plus you have Ramirez returning, which takes pretty much all of Fox's playing time away and Johnson coming back, who does what Fuld does defensively.

Jeff Baker is probably safe considering he just showed up, has more defensive versatility than Fox and does not have options.

I should also point out that Micah Hoffpauir has options too, but I'd be surprised if he is sent out.

Just some things to consider as we look ahead to a busy Monday of roster moves.