The Good: At least one of the Braves’ 3 injured starting pitchers has been able to recover successfully. Tim Hudson threw his 1st complete game in a year Monday. He allowed 7 hits and only 1 walk while holding the Cubs to 2 runs. He struck out 5. … Despite the failed Brian Jordan and Raul Mondesi experiments, it’s time to acknowledge John Schuerholz stole a couple gems once again this past offseason. Hudson has been solid and Jorge Sosa continues to turn heads around the league. He’s making a strong case for Comeback Player of the Year. He outduelled Mark Prior Wednesday to earn his 9th win. He gave up 1 run, 4 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings of work. With Hampton likely out for the rest of the season Sosa will be in the rotation the rest of the season and possibly start a playoff game or two. Who woulda thunk it!? … Andruw Jones was 3-for-11 with his league-leading 40th home run on the campaign. … Chipper Jones took both Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood deep Monday night. As the Braves set their sights on the playoffs, they sorely need a healthy Chipper to solidify an offense that has been inconsistent all year.

The Bad: John Thomson’s struggles since returning from the DL persist. He threw batting practice to the opposing team for the 3rd straight start since being activated. This time it was the Cubs that lit him up for 5 earned runs on 7 hits, and 3 walks in 3 2/3 innings. … Slumping Adam LaRoche continued his downward spiral, going 0-for-9 in the series. The Braves would be so much better off moving Chipper to 1st base and starting Andy Marte (or Wilson Betemit) at 3rd base. … Kelly Johnson was hitless in 6 at-bats.

The Ugly: The Braves suspected Joey Devine was the kind of prospect that could set records once he made it to the big leagues. However I doubt this is what they had in mind… When Jeromy Burnitz launched a grand slam off Devine in the 4th inning of Tuesday night’s game, the Braves pitcher became the first pitcher to ever give up grand slams in each of his first two major league appearances. I still believe this is nothing to worry about and he will be a factor the remainder of the season and possibly postseason. He does however need to start getting outs, and lots of them, or a crisis of confidence will surely follow.