WaPo: First Base Job Seems To Be [Nick] Johnson’s (RR)

To anyone who has monitored the Nationals’ progress over the last six weeks in windswept central Florida, [Nick] Johnson’s comeback from a broken leg suffered in September 2006 now seems complete. There is nothing he hasn’t done, no test he hasn’t passed.

“Pleasantly surprised,” is how General Manager Jim Bowden put it Wednesday. “I think he’ll be 100 percent when he walks on that field Opening Day, and I would not have predicted that when we walked into spring training.”

Young, 34, is not expected to start the year on the disabled list, and indeed Acta said he would play Thursday against Baltimore, the Nationals’ final Grapefruit League game. But he arrived in camp weighing 298 pounds, and club officials still want him to lose more weight.
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Even with his progress, Johnson is only beginning to allow himself to think about winning the job. He said Wednesday he was excited about getting to Washington to see his 2-year-old daughter, Brianna. The other day, Brianna fell at her grandmother’s house, ending up with a fat lip. Johnson smiled about it.

“She’s a Johnson,” he said. “She gets hurt.”