Anyone Surprised By This?

Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson will miss the rest of the season after surgery today to repair a small split tear in a ligament on the ulnar side of his right wrist.

When the injury first happened back in May, the original diagnosis was 4-to-6 weeks. David Ortiz of the Red Sox sustained a very similarly described injury right around the same time-frame, and he's out of his cast, pain-free, and hopeful to start batting practice soon. It's almost indescribable how Johnson's injuries are always the worst case scenario.

His broken leg was supposed to have healed over the off-season in order for him to be ready for spring training in 2007--but he missed the entire year. I won't detail his long and storied list of injuries, but the guy just can't stay healthy, and it takes forever for him to heal. It's a real shame, because he's the best hitter on the team--when healthy.

He, like Meathook, are under contract through 2009, so all Nats fans can hope for is that he recovers from surgery and comes back in the spring healthy, in shape, and ready to play his butt off for a new contract. At this point, the Nats themselves are just hopeful to get some returns for the old one.

At least we'll always have the lightning bolt from spring training.