Don't cry, Frenchy -- I still love you!

The fans are all over Frenchy lately, and not in the fun way. No, he's not performing as well as we hoped. No, nothing seems to be physically wrong with him. But you know what? Sometimes we just go through bad spells in our personal or professional lives.

At his pop's request, he went to the eye doctor this week to get a special contact lense. (Yes, singular.) It's supposed to help him see at night, since his numbers are so much better in day games than night games. The lense goes in his right eye; that's the one that's a tad wonky after getting beaned in the face in the minors. Honestly, I would be surprised if the lense helps.

You can practically hear his lip quivering in this quote from the article above:

"It's been tough," Francoeur said. "I've been trying to stay positive. I keep reminding myself that there is so much season left for the team and me. I know [the Braves] were counting on my being like I was the previous two years, and I feel like I can get back to that."

Of course you can, honey. Here are some other things he's trying, in order to change his luck:

• Growing a beard -- will it help him hit like his buddy Mac?
  
• Switching intro songs -- he's back to Rodney Atkins' "These are my people", the one he's used since he came up in 2005. No more "Watching Airplanes", "Business Time" (what was he thinking??), or "You Give Love a Bad Name" (aka "Shot through the heart"), thank goodness.
  
• Doing a lot of off-the-field promos and appearances -- good for him! His charm will go a long way towards winning back these fair-weather fans.
  

Now, for what the team / the fans can do to help him out:

• Bobby needs to bench him for a full day. No pinch hits. Poor boy needs a mental break more than a physical one, and maybe he can ride the pine with Baby today. (I'm assuming...Baby usually sits out the day game after a night game, when Campillo pitches, and/or when we have an off-day the next day, and today's all three.) Wait, don't sit him today -- day game this afternoon. Sit him on Friday night. Then he'll have (starting today) day game, travel day, off day, two day games, travel day, then a home series. He should be cleared up by then.
  
• Cheer for him anyway. If I have a hard day at work, it's always nice to hear a little compliment or to have someone tell me what I did well.
  
• Lots and lots and lots of hugs. Y'all hear that? HUG FRENCHY. He needs it.

Read more about what Jeff does off the field at his Delta blog, updated today! Honey, don't say you'll sign "anything and everything" unless you intend to follow up on that -- there are some crazy fans out there. ;)