David Ortiz was asked by a reporter on Thursday if he had heard the news about Kevin Youkilis.

“What happened with Youk?” asked the All-Star DH.

When he was told that the first baseman would be undergoing season-ending surgery Friday morning to repair  a tear in the adductor muscle of his right thumb, Ortiz just shook his head.

“Man, it’s a major hit,” Ortiz said. “Things just get worse around here.”

Youkilis joins Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek and Mike Cameron on the disabled list for the Red Sox, who have already seen Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Victor Martinez, Clay Buchholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Manny Delcarmen all miss significant time with injuries.

“Everbody knows that Youk is a guy that plays the game hard,” Ortiz said. “He’s just like Pedroia — when you see those guys coming out of the game, something’s wrong. I remember the way he looked after he hit that ball, his last at-bat, I knew that something was definitely wrong with Youk. He never does that, he plays through pain. Something that everyone’s aware of. Now that I heard the news that he’s not going to play again this year, it’s going from worse to worse.”

Ortiz was asked how much of an impact the injury will have on the team for the rest of the season.

“He’s one of the best players we have, no question about it,” said Ortiz of Youkilis, who ranks among the AL top 10 in walks, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs and extra-base hits. “He’s …. it’s crazy. Not what you want to see.

But you gotta do what you gotta do. You have to take care of that [thumb] and come back healthy next year.”