PHOENIX -- Arizona Diamondbacks ace Curt Schilling has a broken right hand, another in a string of injuries for the two-time defending NL West champions.

	Schilling

Schilling was injured when he was hit in the hand twice last Friday in San Diego. He stayed in the game after Ramon Vazquez's comebacker hit him on the index finger on the opening pitch, but left the game after Sean Burroughs' line drive hit him on the back of the right hand with two outs in the seventh inning.

Burroughs' hit did the damage, Schilling said.

Schilling joins fellow ace Randy Johnson and a crowd of other Diamondbacks on the disabled list. Johnson had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Johnson had a setback last week when he experience some swelling, and that will push back his return beyond the original estimate of late June, Lessard said.

An emergency room doctor said X-rays on Schilling's hand were negative. However, the hand did not improve and trainer Paul Lessard said a spot on the X-ray was suspicious, so a follow-up MRI was taken Tuesday. It revealed a hairline fracture and a bone chip in the third and fourth metacarpals.

"Over the last 72 hours, I told him (Lessard) something just wasn't right," Schilling said. "The swelling wasn't going away. It was not getting better. It was probably getting worse. Today, I didn't expect a break. I was a little concerned there might be some kind of ligament damage."

Schilling will be placed in a removable splint for three weeks before he can begin rehabilitation throwing. Lessard would not speculate when Schilling might return, but manager Bob Brenly said it could be right after the All-Star break.

He didn't expect two broken bones, though. Schilling said he hadn't broken any bones since high school, but simply had to deal with reality.

"I don't have a choice. It's broke. I can't change that," Schilling said. "I've got to do whatever I can do to get better. In the meantime, I've got to be a teammate and help these guys and do whatever I can with these young pitchers and hopefully we can stay close."

Schilling is 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA. On Monday, he was fined about $15,000 by major league baseball for smashing a machine that monitors umpires. He was sidelined from April 18 to May 2 while recovering from an appendectomy.

Right-hander Andrew Good will come up from Triple-A Tucson to take Schilling's scheduled starter Wednesday. Good was sent down May 26 after his first major league victory, and is eligible to be brought up again this soon because he is replacing an injured player.

Among others on Arizona's 15-day disabled list are closer Matt Mantei, setup man Mike Koplove, rookie starter Brandon Webb and infielder Craig Counsell.

Webb, out with a sore elbow, will come off the DL to pitch against Cleveland on Sunday. Counting Webb and Good, who will be added when they pitch, the Diamondbacks have seven rookie pitchers they are relying on in the coming weeks. Six of them have been called up from Tucson.

"That vaunted pitching depth we talked about down in Tucson is no longer, because they're all up here," Brenly said.

The Diamondbacks have had 10 players go on the DL this season, including eight pitchers. Rookies dominate the bullpen and the rotation.

"I've been in the major leagues for 16 years, and I've never seen anything like this," Mark Grace said.

In addition, outfielder David Dellucci still is recovering from a concussion, a cut tongue, swollen jaw and sore lower back as the result of a collision with infielder Alex Cintron on Sunday. Cintron also is hurting with a tight left hamstring.

Last week, the team traded starter Byung-Hyun Kim to Boston for third baseman Shea Hillenbrand.

Arizona entered Tuesday night's game against the White Sox 9½ games behind first-place San Francisco, but reduced the deficit by one after beating Chicago 2-1.

"I don't care what time of the year, 9½ games is 9½ games. With a full roster of veteran big league players it's a big deficit," Schilling said. "I think we'll know rather quickly, in the next couple of weeks, how legitimate our chances of getting back in there."

Brenly painted as positive a picture as he could.

"I still believe that once we get all of our pieces back together, if we can just stay within shouting distance, we've got a good run left in us," he said.