The odds of such an occurrence seem insurmountable, yet Jay Gibbons pulled off the unimaginable feat: He hit a foul ball that injured his wife.

It happened in the ninth inning of the Baltimore Orioles' game against Minnesota on Saturday. Gibbons fouled a ball straight back over the screen and into the rib cage of his wife, Laura.

"She's just a little bruised up. She's going to be OK," Gibbons said yesterday.

Long before the matter became personal, Gibbons had asked team officials to do something about making it safer to sit in the seats behind the plate. He contended that the 20-foot screen doesn't offer enough protection from hard-hit foul balls.

"It's something you think about every day here. Obviously, it's something I've talked about (to) deaf ears," said Gibbons, Baltimore's DH and player representative.

ELSEWHERE

Nationals: Nick Johnson had successful surgery on his broken right leg, and the Washington first baseman is expected to be ready for spring training next year.

Johnson was injured Saturday in a collision with right fielder Austin Kearns during a 12-6 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. He was carted off the field and taken to a hospital, where a titanium rod was inserted into his fractured right femur during a two-hour procedure Saturday night.

"The surgery went well. He is expected to make a full recovery, and be ready for 2007 spring training," team orthopedist Dr. Ben Shaffer said in a statement yesterday.

White Sox: Chicago pitcher Jose Contreras will miss the rest of the season after leaving his last start with a strained right hamstring, manager Ozzie Guillen said yesterday.

"He's done," Guillen said of Contreras, who left Friday's game against Seattle after 1 2/3 innings, when he collapsed at first base and limped off the field.