Washington Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson broke his right leg yesterday when he collided with right fielder Austin Kearns while chasing a fly ball.

David Wright of the Mets hit a blooper down the right-field line in the eighth inning of New York's 12-6 victory, and Johnson chased it along with Kearns and second baseman Jose Vidro.

Johnson and Kearns slid for the ball, which landed between them, and appeared to bang knees and heads. Johnson immediately rolled on to his stomach, appeared to scream in pain, took off his hat and was face-down on the outfield grass.

"Nick's not going to go down if he wasn't hurt that badly," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said. "He was hurt pretty bad."

The Nationals said Johnson would have surgery last night in New York to repair his right femur, the bone in the upper part of the leg.

The oft-injured Johnson had never played more than 131 games in a season before this one. He batted .290 with 23 homers, 77 RBIs and 110 walks in 147 games.

As for Kearns, he got up, walked around and appeared ready to stay in the game before George Lombard went out to replace him as play was set to resume.

ELSEWHERE

White Sox: Manager Ozzie Guillen said yesterday he'd prefer that Jose Contreras (13-9) sit out the rest of the season after the right-hander strained his right hamstring in Friday night's loss to Seattle.

"So far it's just a cramp, but in the meanwhile I need to sit down and talk to him about it, this kid has a contract for the next couple of years and I want to be for sure he doesn't do anything wrong," Guillen said yesterday.

In other news, right fielder Jermaine Dye left yesterday's game against the Seattle Mariners in the eighth inning with an injured left hamstring.

Mets: Center fielder Carlos Beltran wants to play today, but doesn't sound sure the pain in his quadriceps will let him. Beltran said doctors told him the pain should be getting better. "It feels the same," he said, "bothers me when I try to run."

Dodgers: Manager Grady Little said there's a good possibility that right-handers Greg Maddux and Derek Lowe will start the final two games of the season next weekend on three days' rest if the postseason race is undecided. "If it's still tight, and I'm sure it will be, that's what we're looking at," Little said.