Right fielder Jeff Francoeur took 200 swings in the batting cage Tuesday. He took 200 swings at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday before the first game of the split doubleheader with the Cubs, then repeated the process between games.
Manager Bobby Cox had outfielder Gregor Blanco playing right field in Tuesday's posted lineup and kept him there when that game was rained out and became a day game Wednesday instead. But Francoeur surely prefers a game on the bench in Atlanta to another stint in the minors. Here's the good news: Francoeur believes -- for the first time -- that he knows what's wrong at the plate.
"I'm closing up my stance a little bit," he says. "The big thing is I've got a loop in my swing right now when I come down and around. I'm trying to get to where I keep my hands up and take them straight to the ball.
"Just keep them (down) and straight to hit. Right now I'm looping them and I'm just getting beat on everything. I can't get to it."
What caused his stance and swing to change in the first place, Francoeur has no idea. And he and his dad have been kicking that around a lot.
"I had a good April," he said, "and then something happened with my swing and I couldn't stop it."
He has been playing on a bum right ankle -- from a high school football injury -- for which he took a cortisone shot early in the season, and there is always the possibility that compensating for that has messed up his stance. That's something he can have checked out in the offseason.
For now, it's back to the cage.
"I think finally I've gotten to the point where I believe I know what I'm doing, what's wrong," he said. "Now it's time to fix it and try to finish the season as strong as I can."
CUBS 10, BRAVES 2 (first game): RHP Charlie Morton couldn't locate his fastball, but the Cubs certainly could. He yielded four runs in 2 1/3 innings. The Braves offense, meanwhile, did little to get the team back in the game.
CUBS 8, BRAVES 0 (second game): RHP Jorge Campillo uncharacteristically surrendered four runs in the first inning, a deficit that has proved to be too much for the Braves to overcome this season.
