Johnson Hurts Nerves

Johnson, center, should be just fine despite his recent injury. (Photo: Miss Chatter)

Usually in the late August to early October days we seen players that are a bit dinged up. They can still play, but they are a little sore. A tender ankle here. A tender hand there. It's expected and practical after a grueling 162 game regular season. However, rarely do you see a manager banged up.

Nationals 69-year old manager Davey Johnson left the game today in the seventh inning after his leg went numb. James Wagner of the Washington Post has the complete story here.

The report says that Johnson originally felt the numbness in the third inning. He took some medication to see if it would go away and that didn't help. In the seventh inning, Johnson decided to leave the dugout to get further treatment.

He left to get an x-ray done which revealed that two discs in his spine were narrowing (a normal thing). Due to the narrowing, they were pressing against the nerves and thus his leg went numb. To combat that, Johnson has taken some medicine to help the swelling and if it still doesn't subside, he will have to get a shot.

This will not effect Johnson's ability to manage in the playoffs. After the way this season has gone, I don't think he'll let anything effect his ability to manage in the playoffs. He's a modern day Lou Brown (for you young kids, he was the manager of the Indians in the popular baseball movie series "Major League").

Like everything else this season, Johnson is using humor to get through the situation. When asked about his level of concern for his leg, Johnson simply said "I don't want to miss a step going up (the dugout) and doing a header like Gio or somebody."

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Source: Washington Post