Braves 4 Cubs 2

The good guys continued their mastery over the Northside 9, in a cracking good game featuring great pitching performances from Tim Hudson and Carlos Zambrano. Chipper, after having cooled down from his singles-driven .600 average over a week or so of games, broke out the whomping stick with two HRs, one off Zambrano to give the Braves their first lead, then another off "relief ace" Kerry Wood to salt the game away.

We saw what we're paying for with Hudson, who featured his recently rediscovered splitter to cause the Cubs to repeatedly hit weak grounders. He matched up well with Zambrano -- who is a freak of nature, throwing in the upper 90s with great control. Any struggles by Braves hitters (other than Chipper) can be chalked up to Zambrano's nastiness -- no other conclusions are necessary tonight. We were fortunate to win, and you have to wonder about Wood's banishment to the bullpen.