Jeff Francoeur had his baseball life turned upside down Thursday night when he found out he was being sent to Class AA Mississippi to sort out his struggles.

By all accounts at Turner Field on Friday afternoon, it wasn't easy for anybody — inside that closed-door meeting or out.

"That's the toughest one I've ever sat in on, and I've had them where they were getting rid of me," said hitting coach Terry Pendleton.

Pendleton was in the meeting with Braves general manager Frank Wren, assistant GM Bruce Manno, manager Bobby Cox and bench coach Chino Cadahia.

Chipper Jones said his teammates outside that room had an idea what was going on; they had seen Francoeur's average drop from .261 to .234 in three weeks as pressure on him mounted, as did the boos from fans in the town where he grew up and has starred for three years with the Braves.

"It was a tough night last night in more ways than one," said Jones, referring also to the final loss of a three-game sweep by the division-leading Phillies. "It's not quite as extreme as your kid brother being traded, but it had the same effect because it came out of left field."

It was surprising given that he's an established major-league player in his third full season, and has driven in 100 runs each of the past two seasons — and he is a hometown talent who was offered a multiyear contract entering his second full season.

But to Wren, the Braves had run out of choices.

"This is my 32nd year in professional baseball," Wren said. "I didn't have to make many decisions in the early years, but in the last 23 making decisions, this was the toughest. It's tough because you care about a player, you care about a team, and all the ramifications. But at the same time it's one of those tough decisions you've got to make because you do care."

Wren said he didn't think giving Francoeur a couple of days off was enough.

"You're still going to come back three days from now and have to face major-league pitching, with 40,000 friends and relatives and well-wishers in the stands that make it very tough to decompress," Wren said. "We really felt this was the only other alternative. They tell you about slumps, you pretty much have to swing your way out of it. Sitting, you're not swinging your way out of it."

Wren said Francoeur would be in Mississippi for a minimum of 10 days, but he would stay no longer than 20 days.

In that time, his Braves teammates think he can work on his swing, but more than that, get his confidence back.

"He goes down to AA and right away, he walks into that clubhouse and he's the man," Jones said. "And maybe that mentality is something that's gotten away from him a little bit and he needs it back."

Francoeur, who averaged 24 home runs and 104 RBIs in the past two seasons, has hit eight homers and 41 RBIs in 85 games.

He was hitting only .121 in his past 18 games. He has struggled mightily with runners on base, hitting .198 (20-for-101) with runners in scoring position and .100 (2-for-20) with the bases loaded.

"Everybody struggles — we all do," Jones said. "But this is a game of adjustments, and pitchers have made an adjustment on Frenchy. And he has to make an adjustment back. It's got to do with pitch recognition. It's got to do with using the whole field."

Jones said Francoeur was devastated by the news Thursday night, but Jones like many of his teammates tried to reassure him they need him back to make a second-half run and that he has what it takes to do it.

"He knows where the journey leads, he just can't see it yet," John Smoltz said. "I couldn't see it when I was 2-11 in '91. I'm sure I was a start away from having the same thing happen to me. I told him I can't experience what he's experiencing, I can't feel what he's feeling. The only thing I can tell him is I can't wait to see him in 10 days because he is going to be so much better for it."