In another rout, Mets showcase Francoeur, then trade him to Texas

ATLANTA - For the first half of this season, the Mets had a core that worked in David Wright, Jeff Francoeur, Rod Barajas and Jason Bay. It wasn't a collection of premier All-Stars, but the foursome clicked, and the resulting chemistry helped the Mets climb to 11 games over .500, the high-water mark for the year.

Now, Wright is the only member of the group who remains for the final month after the Mets completed a trade late last night that sent Jeff Francoeur to the first-place Texas Rangers for infielder Joaquin Arias. Texas had until midnight to get the deal done in time for Francoeur to be eligible for the postseason roster and his first playoff appearance since 2005.

Francoeur's days in New York were numbered, anyway. The Mets were almost certain to non-tender him after his one-year, $5-million contract expired at the end of this season.

"It's kind of bittersweet," Francoeur said. "I didn't envision the year going the way it did for me personally and the team. At the same time, I feel that I came out to play hard every day. Sometimes it wasn't the best and it was frustrating.

"The last four years, I haven't really been in a pennant race, so to get a chance to go out there hopefully help out in every way I can and go to the playoffs, it's going to be a fun opportunity. Something I'll relish."

Francoeur batted cleanup for the first time this season, perhaps as an audition for the Texas scout in attendance, and went 1-for-3 with a single and sacrifice fly in the Mets' 9-2 loss to the Braves at Turner Field. He also threw out Martin Prado at the plate in the fifth inning for his 11th assist, which is tops in the majors.

When the game was over, Francoeur was on his cell phone and the Mets announced the trade roughly 40 minutes after the final out. Francoeur's locker was packed up quickly as the rest of the Mets dressed quietly. Wright, who declined to talk about it before the announcement, chatted for a while with Francoeur and hitting coach Howard Johnson before leaving.

The scene was very similar to what happened Aug. 22 in Pittsburgh, when Rod Barajas was told he had been released on a waiver claim to the Dodgers. The other Mets looked on in envy as Barajas prepared to head home to L.A.

Francoeur came up with one of the Mets' two sacrifice flies with the bases loaded in the fifth last night - the other was by Henry Blanco - but that effort proved to be woefully inadequate in a 9-2 loss to the Braves at Turner Field.

Atlanta capitalized on Luis Castillo's fielding error to score seven runs in the fifth off Jonathon Niese, who allowed a grand slam to David Ross before he was pulled for Elmer Dessens.

"It's been a tough couple weeks here," Francoeur said. "We've been grinding away every day and it just hasn't happened. It's something that kept kind of going and going. I know people expected different this year - we expected different. It just didn't happen, and you move on, and for me this is a good opportunity."

Arias made starts at first base, second and shortstop in 50 games for the Rangers this season. He batted .276 (27-for-98) and was twice on the disabled list before he was designated for assignment Aug. 24.