Johnson to miss four to six weeks after wrist surgery

The banged-up Yankees are not getting healthier.

In fact, as their biggest week to this point of the season started last night, they still were going in the other direction.

Nick Johnson disclosed before the game that his right wrist hasn't improved after a cortisone shot May 9 and that he'll have surgery Tuesday that will keep him out a minimum four to six weeks.

"I've had shots in it before and last year, I had no problems with it all year," Johnson said. "So I thought the shot would do what it did last time. It was just stagnant. Didn't get worse or better."

Johnson's case is the most severe of the Yankees' wounded, but he's not alone.

Nick Swisher said an MRI showed "some kind of strain" in his left biceps, though neither he nor the Yankees think he will land on the disabled list.

And Jorge Posada sat out with what Joe Girardi said was "a knot" on his right foot after taking a foul ball off it during a sixth-inning at-bat Sunday. "He's sore," Girardi said, adding that X-rays showed no broken bones.

As for Swisher, who was removed from the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader in Detroit, progress hasn't been as steady as hoped, although Swisher said it feels better than when he first felt the discomfort.

"We gave him a day [off Sunday] and he came back and he felt it," Girardi said.

Swisher, available to pinch hit righthanded last night, feels the injury only when he swings lefthanded. He intended Monday to test it out with some lefthanded cuts, but the Yankees' training staff recommended against it.

"I'm on board with the doctors and our trainers," Swisher said. "What's taking another two days off rather than getting back in there today and missing two, three months? So I'm not going to take that chance."

For Johnson, two, three months has been the norm in his career more often than not.

"It's frustrating," Johnson said. "[But] just get it fixed and be able to swing pain-free. Go from there."