Donald out until early, mid April

GOODYEAR, ARIZ.: After Jason Donald continued to experience pain in his left hand, he underwent a C-T scan that showed a crack in the bone of his middle finger.

""Jason had residual symptoms during his minor-league (defensive) work a few days ago,'' head trainer Lonnie Soloff said this morning. ""A C-T scan showed a small crack at the base of his long finger. He will have no baseball activity for seven days, at which time he will return to hitting.''

The pain was not going away, a point that became obvious to Donald on Thursday, when he played defense only in a minor-league game.

""I told him (Soloff) it felt like it was getting worse,'' Donald said. That's what led to the C-T scan.

Donald was hit by a pitch March 5, the injury at first being diagnosed as a contusion and later as a bone bruise. It was thought that Donald would be back on the field, but he has not been able to swing a bat. Neither two different kinds of X-rays or an MRI showed the small crack.

What will happen at third? Manager Manny Acta said Jack Hannahan, Luis Valbuena or Jayson Nix will start the season at third, though he put more emphasis on Hannahan. He stressed that Lonnie Chisenhall will not be brought back from the minor-league camp to start the season at third.

""Why would we bring him up for a week or two?'' the manager said.