Many thanks to Jeff Francoeur for taking the time to speak with me about his season. I caught up with Jeff about two weeks before the end of the season in the Braves clubhouse. He is one of the best guys to interview because he always seems real honest and forthright and pretty much always has time for you. He also speaks really fast, so while this was my shortest interview in terms of actual time (2 min, 50 sec), there was still a ton of content.
Martin Gandy: Are you getting tired?
Jeff Francoeur: Ah, a little bit, but at the same time I'm trying to finish strong here and keep it going, and see what we can do.
MG: Speaking of finishing strong, you haven't had a homerun since August 27th, do you think playing every game is catching up with you, especially the double-headers?
JF: Yeah, that might have been part of it - the double-headers maybe. But at the same time, for some reason I can't get any lift on the ball right now, but it's not something I'm going to try out there to do, because if I do that I'm going to be hurting the team more than helping. Hopefully these last couple of weeks here I can get going and try to get some help for us.
Interviewer's note: Jeff hit four homeruns in the final two weeks of the season.
MG: No stolen base attempts since July 3rd, why'd you stop running?
JF: I think it's something I need to work on this off-season. I don't feel real comfortable with my leads and getting my jumps. So it's something this Spring Training I'm going to definitely work on big time.
MG: Do you have any plans for the off-season besides working on your stolen base move?
JF: Playing a lot of golf, send time with the fiancé, plan the wedding, and just taking some time to relax and enjoy the off-season.
MG: How have you and the team handled the end of the streak?
JF: It's been tough, it's been different, but at the same time it's something that you just move on with. Come to Spring Training next year and hopefully start a new one and get back to where we've been and get in the playoffs, and try to make a run at the World Series - that's the ultimate goal every year, and this year we obviously weren't able to get there, but all is not lost yet.
MG: What positives are you taking away from the season?
JF: I think just the way we've fought back. Our team's fought hard. We've had a lot of injuries and a lot of people have had to fill in - a lot of call-ups, a lot of different guys plugging in here. We've just got to keep trying our best to make things happen and that's what we're going to do.
MG: Is it hard being a local and playing in the same town you grew up in, or is easier doing that?
JF: I think it's both, you get good and bad. It's great having your family here and being able to do stuff, but sometimes you get tired out from trying to do so much stuff. I love playing here and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
MG: Do you think the amount of players that are local on this team, do you think that has something to do with the home struggles here?
JF: No, I don't think so. I think it's just one of those things that's been weird this year, and there's no reason we can't come back next year and have a big improvement at home, I think it's just one of those years when you can't explain it.
MG: The fans are still sticking with you though. What can you tell them about next year?
JF: We're going to come out and play hard, the same thing. We're going to work hard this off-season, hopefully to get where we need to be. Obviously we'll get Hampton back next year which will be really nice. Hopefully we can keep Chipper healthy the whole year, and other stuff like that. If we can do that then I don't think there's any reason we can't try to win the division next year