Juan Rivera can see clearly now; Angels would like to see more production

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Angels left fielder Juan Rivera, who missed six games from June 30 to July 5 because of blurred vision, a condition doctors said was caused by stress, went to an eye doctor for a checkup Wednesday.

‘My vision is back to normal,’ Rivera said. ‘Everything is OK.’

The Angels need Rivera to be more than OK in the second half. The 32-year-old hit .287 with 25 home runs, 24 doubles and 88 runs batted last season, but he began Thursday with a .240 average, 10 homers and 34 RBIs.

Rivera is a career .264 hitter in the first half and a .298 hitter in the second half, ‘and hopefully that happens again this year,’ Rivera said. Of course, there is no guarantee that struggling veterans such as Rivera, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu, despite their track records, will heat up in the second half.

‘There are some trends that give you confidence something will happen,’ Manager Mike Scioscia said. ‘But on the other side of the coin, it’s not an exact science. We definitely need more from Juan, Bobby and Hideki, and we need to get [Maicer] Izturis back. I don’t consider it a wing and a prayer when you’re talking about these guys in the second half, but you can’t just predict what these guys are going to do.’

--Mike DiGiovanna