Take a deep breath and relax. Right fielder Jeff Francoeur has not been demoted the way you think he has. Especially not all the way to Class AA Mississippi.

That destination was his choice. General manager Frank Wren asked Francoeur where he thought he'd feel most comfortable working on getting his swing back, and Francoeur produced some of his best offense under M-Braves manager Phillip Wellman.

Going down in the first place, though, was not Francoeur's choice.

Wren started thinking about that three weeks ago, and the conviction grew last weekend when the team was in Toronto. Francoeur's 1-for-12 performance in the Phillies series sealed it.

Wren and manager Bobby Cox handled it as sensitively as possible, delaying telling Francoeur until the press left the clubhouse Thursday. And both of them put the best face on the situation while talking to reporters Friday.

"We don't even really look at it as a demotion," Wren said. "We look at it as stepping back for a few days and decompressing and getting his game going."

"It's not a demotion," Cox said. "It's just a short period of time."

A specific period of time, it turns out: Francoeur will be back after the All-Star break.

But the only way Francoeur can get out of this slump is to swing his way out of it. That doesn't happen if he's benched, and it wasn't happening facing major league pitching.

"At the end of the day," Wren says, "there really wasn't a Plan B. Plan B was just watching and hoping."

Longtime friend and teammate Brian McCann's reaction? "Brutal."

BRAVES 6, ASTROS 2: The Braves got their first lead in a game in their last 47 innings when 1B Mark Teixeira scored in the second inning. RHP Tim Hudson gave up only one earned run in seven innings, and rookie RF Jason Perry tripled in his first major league at-bat.

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