"Chipper Jones had one more person to convince that he was healthy enough to return to the Braves lineup. So, hours before the Braves hosted the Pirates on Monday, Jones was in the outfield going through several drills for head athletic trainer Jeff Porter.

He passed the final test.

The Braves activated Jones from the disabled list and he was in the starting lineup after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery July 9th. Outfielder Wilkin Ramirez was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in the corresponding roster move.

Jones completed a two-game rehab assignment over the weekend at Class A Rome. His biggest concern was batting right-handed, which he did three times Sunday with a single, walk and RBI sacrifice fly.

"There is some other soreness that I have to get over now," Jones said before Monday's game. "From playing five innings [Sunday], the legs and the glutes are pretty sore today. Once I get over that initial coming back and playing nine [innings] soreness I hope I have no limitations. [Manager] Fredi [Gonzalez] is still going to give me my days here and there to take care of me and keep me fresh. I don't foresee anything knee related that's going to keep me out of games."

Jones said the last time he felt pain in the knee was while batting right-handed during workouts with Gwinnett before his rehabilitation assignment.

Courtesy of DOB, since May 1, the Braves are 32-18 when Chipper has played and 14-10 when he hasn't. They're 6-6 since he went on DL. The Braves have also been significantly better with Chipper in lineup past two seasons. A year ago, they went 44-26 in the last 70 games he played through Aug. 10, then 26-23 the rest of the way without him (27-26 include the playoffs)."