Miles battles through times of uncertainty

LOS ANGELES Aaron Miles wasn't sure if last spring training would be his last in the big leagues. He didn't get many calls from teams in the offseason, and the ones he did get usually involved playing in the minors until he was needed later in the season. But Miles didn't give up on himself, even if others seemed ready to. He knew his personal life, thrown into an upheaval by a divorce in 2009, was back in order. And he knew he was seeing the ball better after undergoing laser eye surgery in November. In just a few months, he's turned an uncertain spring into a big regular season. Miles, 34, has become an everyday player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, in part because of injuries but also because of his .324 batting average. From a longshot to make the team, he's become an important part of their offense. "Did I think of myself as a longshot?" he said. "I did because of what I felt the organization's plans were for the season. But I came in and played the way I did in the spring. I definitely looked like someone who could help this ball club out, and they noticed it right away." Miles is a career .282 hitter, but it wasn't until he had laser eye surgery that he realized what a difference it made in his vision. "I was thinking about it for three or four years," he said, "but when you hit .317 in this league like I did in 2008, you feel like not a whole lot is broken. Then you have a bad year, and you wonder if maybe you could see the ball better. With contact (lenses), one day they feel great, the next day maybe your eyes are a little bit drier and you don't see as good. Or you go to Denver and it's really dry, then you go to St. Louis and it's really humid. Just the inconsistency of the contacts plays with you a little bit." Miles was worried that if the surgery didn't provide the desired results, he might suffer as a hitter. But it didn't take him long to realize his concerns were unfounded. "I remember the first day after the surgery, I turned on the TV and I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time," he said. "I had that same feeling two days later when I went and hit at the batting cages. I was amazed at how well I could see and was immediately excited to get to spring training and it was still a couple of months away." Miles had a productive season in 2010 with the St. Louis Cardinals, hitting .281 in 79 games as a utility player. It was clearly a season of recovery for him, coming after a miserable 2009 in which he hit .185 in 74 games with the Chicago Cubs. One reason for his slide was a shoulder injury. He tried to play through it and subsequently hurt his elbow. Making matters worse was a divorce that strained him emotionally and forced him to be separated from his two children. "You have this vision that your life's going to be (a certain) way," he said. "Your family is the most important thing in your life, and when that's crumbling, it's tough to do something you love and take pride in like playing baseball. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through." Things are better now, he said. "I'm in a better place, and it's fun to come to the ballpark and fun to take pride in playing this game." The Dodgers gave Miles the best chance to win a spot on their roster after several other teams offered lesser deals. A couple wanted him to start the season in the minors. A few others said they'd sign him to a minor-league contract but would let him compete for a big-league roster job. "But those deals fell through," he said. "The Dodgers were like the last team standing. They said. 'Let's take a shot bringing him in to big-league camp and take a shot.' " Manager Don Mattingly said he was impressed with Miles throughout the spring but couldn't figure out why other teams hadn't tried harder to sign him. To get a better picture on his situation, he called Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "I said, 'Is this guy a bad guy, a bad teammate, when he's not playing? There's gotta be something wrong because he can play three infield spots, he runs pretty good, he can hit from both sides. It's like he's a perfect National League utility-type guy.' "Tony said he loved him. He told me, 'I'm one of his biggest fans. He's a great teammate. If he goes 3 for 4 and doesn't play the next day, he doesn't moan.' " Mattingly even elevated Miles to third in the batting order Tuesday night against the New York Mets. It was only because right fielder Andre Ethier sat out the game with a fever but also because Miles, despite a woeful lack of power, was hitting so well. In fact, Miles led the NL with a .419 average in June, going 26 for 62. Miles' night was cut short, however, when he was hit on the left elbow by Mets starter Mike Pelfrey in the fifth inning. The team said he suffered a contusion. With his improved eyesight, Miles says he's become more of a line-drive hitter and less of a contact hitter who's happy to put the ball in play. That means he's far from being done. "The knowledge and experience you gain can hopefully outweigh the body slowing down," he said. "Obviously, Father Time is going to catch up to all of us, and we're not going to be able to turn on the fastball as good as we used to, but the knowledge of the game, knowing yourself, that's why guys can play until they're 40 years old or so. "I know there's a lot more ball left in me."