NEW YORK — The Atlanta Braves traded Jeff Francoeur and cash to the New York Mets for Ryan Church yesterday in a swap of outfielders who had fallen out of favor with their teams.

The deal came with both NL East teams below .500. The Mets have especially struggled to score lately with stars Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado on the disabled list.

The oft-injured Church is hitting .280 with two homers and 22 RBIs.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel never seemed to warm up to him, and seemed particularly peeved after Church missed third base while running home earlier this season in a game New York eventually lost.

The 30-year-old Church is in his sixth major league season and is a career .273 hitter.

The 25-year-old Francoeur is hitting .250 with five homers and 35 RBIs. He was a favorite with Braves fans and management during his first full season in 2006, when he hit 29 homers with 103 RBIs, playing in all 162 games.

"What's just weird is you imagine to be traded, but you never imagine to be traded to maybe your biggest rival," Francoeur said in Denver, before the Braves played the Rockies.

Francoeur hit .293 with 19 homers and 105 RBIs in 2007, but slumped last year.

Francoeur recently was benched for three games by Atlanta manager Bobby Cox.

"Frenchy was our guy from right out of high school. It's hard to move guys when you sign them like that and when they've been around," Cox said. "Maybe a transition over there in a Mets uniform will get him going again and we can get Ryan Church going."

ANGELS

Hunter, Guerrero on DL: The Los Angeles Angels placed center fielder Torii Hunter and right fielder Vladimir Guerrero on the 15-day disabled list before the start of a three-game series with the New York Yankees.

Hunter, who was selected to his third All-Star game, has an adductor strain on his right side, which will prevent him from participating in next week's festivities at St. Louis. Guerrero strained a muscle behind his left knee and has a lower hamstring strain.

MARINERS-ROYALS

Betancourt traded to K.C.: The Seattle Mariners have traded versatile infielder Yuniesky Betancourt to the Kansas City Royals for two minor league pitchers.

The Mariners said yesterday that right-hander Danny Cortes will report to Double-A West Tenn and left-hander Derrick Saito will head to Class A Clinton. The Royals also received cash considerations.

PHILLIES

Werth an NL All-Star: After homering for the fourth straight game Thursday night, Philadelphia outfielder Jayson Worth was picked for the NL All-Star team yesterday as a replacement for injured New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran.

The World Series champion Phillies put three outfielders on the NL roster for Tuesday night's game in St. Louis. Left fielder Raul Ibanez was elected by fans to start and center fielder Shane Victorino won a spot in Internet voting for reserves.

"It's an honor to go with the guys that are going. It says a lot about the character of the guys on the team," Werth said. "It's going to be a great experience."

SHORT HOPS

Cubs: Chicago catcher Geovany Soto, the 2008 NL rookie of the year, is going on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique muscle. Manager Lou Piniella said Soto could be out for a month.

Orioles: Baltimore manager Dave Trembley paid an undisclosed fine and began serving his two-game suspension last night, following his ejection in the first inning of Tuesday's game against the Seattle Mariners.

Rangers: Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz has been picked for the American League All-Star roster, replacing injured Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter. Cruz was batting .262 with 20 homers and 50 RBIs.