Padres All-Star second baseman and there most consistent hitter last season, Mark Loretta is scheduled to have surgery on a torn ligament in his left thumb Tuesday and is expected to miss at least two months. Loretta was examined Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz., by hand specialist Dr. Don Sheridan, who repaired the same ligament four years ago. Loretta was hurt while sliding headfirst into first base while beating out an infield single against Atlanta last Tuesday night. The Padres were cautiously optimistic after the injury, "but I think it was a little bit of false hope," Loretta said by phone on Monday. "Really, the diagnosis isn't any different than what the San Diego doctor gave me. It's a torn ligament, and there hasn't been much success of players coming back without getting it fixed. "It's sore and there's not a lot of strength, which you need to swing the bat," he said. "Rather than trying to play through it and risk not being able to be any kind of contributing factor and put off the surgery and risk more extensive surgery down the road, we'll do it now. I want to come back for the stretch drive." General manager Kevin Towers said that if Loretta needs reconstructive surgery, he'll be out for the rest of the season. "Again, it depends on how much they have to do in there," said Loretta, who hopes to be back sometime after the All-Star break. "This doctor is pretty optimistic that he won't have to do that based on what he knows from operating on me before. That's really one of the deciding factors, is to try to avoid reconstruction. "There aren't too many cases where somebody had to have it done twice. He'll do everything he can to have me back ASAP," Loretta said.