Jeff Francoeur

Finally.

Finally, the Atlanta Braves fans can hear the words, "Now batting, Jeff Francoeur" and not feel obligated to scream and holler and clap and cheer for their hometown hero.

Finally, the young ladies in the stands can tear off their Francoeur t-shirts and replace them with the screen-printed bleached hair of Nate McLouth.

When Francoeur returns to Turner Field this weekend as a New York Met, I can't promise you that he'll strike out three times or hit into four double plays. But I can promise you one thing: There will be boos.

A trade that was just announced: The New York Mets have traded right fielder Ryan Church to the Atlanta Braves for struggling right fielder Jeff Francoeur.

I'd have to say the Braves win this trade, as they get a good young hitter in Church.

This is the second outfielder the Braves have acquired, the first being Nate McLouth.

So far this season, Church is hitting .280 with two home runs and 22 RBI. Church has 65 hits in 67 games.

In a move that truly surprised me, the Atlanta Braves traded Jeff "Golden Boy" Francoeur to the New York Mets for Ryan Church.

From all I can gather, the two are a wash on defense.

Francoeur has the better arm, but Church has the better range.

The issue lies with the bat.

Is Church an upgrade at all? Or is he going stick his left-handed bat in the lineup and stink up the place like Jeff did from the right side?

Let's look at the stats, shall we?

(age) Games/AVG/HR/RBI/OBP/SLG

Church (30): 67/.280/2 (in Citi)/22/.332/.375

Of course it would happen on the day that I come in from work and instead of writing and getting caught up on the day's news I grill out and mow the lawn. So, when I checked my cell phone for text messages around 9 p.m. I finally found out that Jeff Francoeur had been traded.

When I found out whom to and for I was shocked and perplexed, but ultimately pleased. While trading a former top prospect to a bitter division rival, the Mets, seems a little risky getting Ryan Church in return makes it a little better.

In a trade early Friday evening, the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves swapped Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur.

In 67 games this season, Church is batting .280 with two home runs and 22 RBI's. Church got off to a great start with the Mets in 2008, batting .320 with 10 Home Runs and 34 RBI's, but his season went downhill from that point, mainly due to a concussion.

The Mets acquired Church from the Nationals along with catcher Brian Schneider in exchange for Lastings Milledge on November 30th, 2007.

According to Bart Hubbuch's NY Post Mets Twitter account, the New York Mets have traded OF Ryan Church to the Atlanta Braves for floundering Right Fielder Jeff Francoeur.

Franceour, 25, started off hot in Atlanta hitting a cool .300 with 14 home runs in his rookie 2005 campaign.

He won a 2007 Gold Glove with his NL leading 19 outfield assists also.

After reading Dave O' Brien's (Atlanta Journal Constitution writer) latest, I am convinced that the sooner Jeff Francoeur is released, the better.

Francoeur was benched for the third straight game in part because he's not good enough to start on some church softball league teams right now. But mostly because Matt Diaz is tearing the cover off the ball of late.

Francoeur told O' Brien that he "wasn't happy" with the decision. He went on to say, "I cant do anything about it."

I have figured out the cause behind the struggles of Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson.

Surprisingly, it is a very easy problem to fix.

Kelly's and Jeff's issues lie in their poor taste in music.

That's right, their walk-up music has immersed both in dreadful slumps.

Neither "Your Love" by The Outfield and "Summertime" by Kenny Chesney hardly strike fear into opposing pitchers. And, in my opinion, both fail to energize the two struggling sluggers.

How, you ask, can I attribute walk-up songs to on-the-field performance?

When the Atlanta Braves made Jeff Francoeur their first round selection in 2002 MLB Draft, a lot of hype surrounded the kid from Parkview High School and for good reason.

A two-sport star in high school, Francoeur made headlines when he decided to turn down a football scholarship from Clemson University in order to play professional baseball.