Ortiz plans to look into possible eye problem
David Ortiz didn't want to make his vision a larger issue than it was mostly because he wasn't sure how much of an issue it was.
"It's not anything crazy," Ortiz said before last night's game, returning to the lineup and batting sixth after sitting out Thursday's win in Detroit. "I've just got to get it checked out."
Red Sox manager Terry Francona explained that what Ortiz has been experiencing is "dry eyes" during his at-bats, and that the team would send him to an optometrist Monday.
Knowing that Ortiz was hitting .187 and had been collected just six hits in the 49 at-bats since hitting his only home run of the season May 20 against Toronto, Francona had a feeling any talk of Ortiz and vision problems "would have legs" and immediately wanted to "put it to bed."
"I should have never not played him because he gets talkative when he doesn't play," Francona said. "He had dry eyes on this last trip and he was blinking a couple at-bats. So he went to the trainers . . . If somebody says something to a trainer, rather than hand him some Visine, we've got great people around, might as well get what works best. And the fact that he's getting it done Monday should tell you right now . . . this wasn't a really big deal on my radar."
Ortiz, however, said his eyes had been bothering him long before the Sox traveled to Minnesota a week and a half ago.
"It's been a while," Ortiz said. "Just been blinking too much when I've been hitting. That's about it. It's been like that since we got back to begin the year in spring training. I just never paid attention to it because, I don't know, it wasn't part of my attention."
General manager Theo Epstein said Ortiz had no problems passing an eye test during spring training. Every player has his eyes checked each spring, Epstein said, and nothing was out of the ordinary with Ortiz.
On Thursday, Ortiz told reporters he was used to getting his eyes checked every season and being told he was 20/20.
Asked if the blinking occurred throughout the day or just when he was in the batter's box, Ortiz responded, "Just when I try to focus on something. And I focus on hitting. When you've got that blinking thing going on, it just doesn't feel right."
On the latest road trip, Francona moved Ortiz, who has customarily hit third, down in the batting order.
"If you take an 0-fer and you're not hitting third, it's a little different," said Francona. "It takes a little bit of the glare off."
Before last season when he connected for 23, Ortiz had hit at least 30 home runs for five straight years. On pace to hit just three this season, he's searching for any possible answer to his troubles at the plate.
"I've just got to go to the doctor Monday and see what's up," he said. "I don't have too much detail about it. It's like when you have a headache and you don't know where it's coming from and you go and get it checked out. Because it's not normal.
"You're not supposed to be blinking when you're about to hit a baseball. It happened to me a whole bunch of times and I just want to find the reason why, because it's never happened before."
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. 
