Sports360AZ
The Diamondbacks have been looking for a consistent bat all season long. With the exception of Paul Goldschmidt, it’s been noticeably absent.
Outfielder Cody Ross signed a three-year, $26 million deal with the team, and so far this season, he hasn’t lived up to his end of the bargain. Coming into Wednesday afternoon’s finale against the Miami Marlins, Ross was batting .253, with an on-base percentage of .309.
He was also hitless in his last 14 at-bats coming into the game.
Not the type of numbers he, nor anyone else in the organization expected him to have at this point of the season.
Evidently, Ross had a problem with his contact lenses, which he took care of on Tuesday.
With the problem behind him, Ross went out on Wednesday and cracked a pinch-hit three-run home run to help propel the Diamondbacks past the Marlins, 3-1, as they took two of three in the series.
“To be honest with you, I was going up there with blurry vision half the time I was at the plate,” Ross said. “It’s hard enough to hit in this league when you have good vision, as opposed to when you have blurry vision.”
Ross’ vision problems were quite evident during the series opener on Monday, when he earned a walk in the eighth inning, but he didn’t realize it was ball four. He made an effort to talk to manager Kirk Gibson after the game to explain the situation to him.
He went to an optometrist the following day, and spent three hours getting fitted for the right pair of lenses.
That was time well spent at the doctor’s office for Ross, as it paid immediate dividends for him and the Diamondbacks.
If Arizona has any chance of staying on top of the NL West and actually winning the division, Ross and his batting mates have to hit the ball more consistently than they have so far this season.
Maybe a win like this is just what the doctor ordered.
