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 onto 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."

Johnson was immobilized, driven off the field on a cart and taken to a hospital. 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 RBIand 110 walks in 147 games.

"He's a great kid and it's tough to see him out there like that," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Hopefully pray for a speedy recovery and the doctors can take care of him. I've known him since he was a kid and he's a hell of a player and he plays hard all the time. So hopefully he'll be fine, he'll come out of this OK."

Kearns 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. But Kearns said afterward he was "sick to my stomach," and the rest of the Nationals felt much the same way.

"Every guy that came up to bat was pretty shook up by it," catcher Brian Schneider said. "You don't really feel like playing that last inning."

ROUNDUP New milestone for Bonds: Barry Bonds hit his 734th career home run last night, breaking Hank Aaron's NL record in the same city where the Hall of Fame slugger started and ended his major-league career. The San Francisco Giants star hit a 1-0 pitch from Milwaukee's Chris Capuano over the right-center fence in the third inning, just out of the reach of outfielders Brady Clark and Corey Hart. Bonds, who hit No. 733 and drove in a season-high six runs Friday night, is 21 homers shy of Aaron's career mark of 755. It was Bonds' 26th home run of the season.

DYE INJURED: Chicago White Sox right fielder Jermaine Dye left yesterday's game against the Seattle Mariners in the eighth inning after stumbling and falling down as he came out of the batter's box. Dye's grounder to shortstop became a double play when Juan Uribe was tagged out at third trying to advance from second and then Dye, who couldn't run up the line, was out at first to retire the side in the seventh. Ryan Sweeney took over for Dye in the top of the eighth.

CONTRERAS SHELVED? Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said yesterday he'd prefer that Jose Contreras sit out the rest of the season after the right-hander strained his right hamstring in Friday night's loss to Seattle. Contreras signed a three-year, $29 million contract extension in April that runs through 2009. He was the ace of Chicago's run to the World Series a year ago, going 11-2 in the second half. This year he is 4-9 since the All-Star break and 13-9 overall. He had to leave his start Friday night after 1 2/3 innings and limped off the field after collapsing at first base as he went to cover the bag. "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. Contreras was scheduled to make one more start this season for the White Sox, who are still mathematically alive for the playoffs. Brandon McCarthy would probably come out of the bullpen to take Contreras' turn.

O'S TO NORFOLK: The Baltimore Orioles' top farm club is coming back to the United States. The Orioles ended their affiliation with Ottawa, and next season will have their Triple-A team in Norfolk, Va. Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo, who managed in Norfolk in 1986, likes the idea of having the Triple-A club about 240 miles away. "I think it's a tremendous move for us," Perlozzo said yesterday. "We wondered why we would get a little thin in Triple-A. Now, I think it's going to be a lot easier to sign some six-year guys [minor league free agents] that will come to a stadium like Norfolk and be in the good weather."

Best of all, players called up to the big-league club won't have to deal with visa issues and crossing the border when coming to Baltimore.

Tides president Ken Young heads an investment group that this summer purchased the Orioles' in-state affiliates in Bowie, Frederick and Delmarva.

Norfolk had been the New York Mets' Triple-A affiliate for 38 seasons. Before spending four years in Ottawa, the Orioles had a 42-year relationship with Rochester.