After Game Off, Francoeur's Return Boosts Braves to Win
May 22, 2008
By Mark Bowman
MLB.com
Never has a division title been won before the completion of May. But all of that doubt the Braves created during the first six weeks of the season has seemingly been replaced over the course of the past two days.
Nobody is going to declare the Braves to be the heavy favorites to win the National League East this year. But after getting battered by their offense and baffled by their starting pitchers this week in Atlanta, the Mets would understand why some people might predict that postseason baseball will return to Turner Field this year.
Not satisfied with Tuesday's doubleheader sweep, the Braves returned Wednesday to claim an 11-4 win over the Mets, who were the first to find out just how dangerous Jeff Francoeur can be when given a chance to rest one game on the bench.
When Francoeur didn't play in the second game of Tuesday's twin bill, he ended his Major League-long streak of playing in 370 consecutive games. After recording three hits, including his first homer since April 12, on Wednesday, the 24-year-old outfielder might prompt a mass of employees in Atlanta to take a rest on Thursday.
"Tonight was fun," said Francoeur, whose sixth-inning two-run homer ended a span of 133 consecutive homerless at-bats. "I was able to have fun for the first time in a while."
While it was expected Mark Teixeira would soon heat up, there might have been some concern about the fact that Francoeur had hit just .227 in his previous 24 games before being given a chance to rest his stressed mind during Tuesday's nightcap.
Some of the relief Francoeur found was visible with his third-inning RBI triple. When he skillfully directed an RBI single in the fifth inning, he didn't look like the frustrated swinger that he'd occasionally been during that past few weeks.
But the big blast came in the sixth inning when he directed Pedro Feliciano's first pitch 399 feet for a two-run homer. His previous home run had capped his two-homer game on April 12. While he said last week that he wasn't worried about his power numbers, his smile after this game proved he was happy that things are starting to seem normal again.
"[Jeff]'s struggled terribly for the last month or so and we've been kind of jokingly ribbing him about his lack of power lately," Jones said. "It was great to see. I think Bobby made a great call giving him a day off yesterday."
