"Right-hander Zack Greinke finally had to admit Wednesday how he injured the ribs on his left side at the outset of spring training.

When you're headed for the disabled list, you have little choice.

The Milwaukee Brewers' prized off-season acquisition has a cracked seventh rib and bruised eighth rib, the result of taking a spill during a pickup basketball game. Greinke does not have enough time to get ready for opening day and therefore will start the season on the DL.

The timetable for Greinke's return is uncertain, but he is expected to miss at least the first couple of weeks of the season and perhaps most of the first month.

"He won't be ready for opening day," said Ron Roenicke, whose first spring training as the Brewers' manager hit a significant speed bump. "How far we go past that, I don't know. We've got to find somebody else."

Greinke, 27, acquired in a blockbuster six-player trade with Kansas City in December, had been nursing sore ribs throughout training camp. Because he thought they were getting better, he declined to reveal what he did to them other than to say it was "something stupid."

After the injury was revealed, Greinke said he was playing basketball at the outset of camp and went up for a rebound and fell hard on his left side.

"I've been doing this for a couple of years now and people have always said, 'You're going to get hurt.' " he said. "It finally caught up to me, playing basketball. I was going up for a rebound and fell on that side. I was hoping it was just bruised. I had a lot of fun doing it, but it wasn't worth it.

"I didn't think it was going to be as bad as it was. I was thinking it was just a bruise and kept pitching through it. There's a lot more negative pitching with it now than positive. I'm going to have to take a little bit of time off. Hopefully, not too much time."

Greinke made two exhibition starts but was not sharp, allowing six hits, three walks and one run in 3 1/3 innings. X-rays taken earlier did not reveal the cracked rib but when he continued to have discomfort during and after an outing Sunday against Texas, an MRI was scheduled.

"It's not good at all but hopefully it won't be too long," said Greinke. "I don't want to be away from the team, especially at the beginning. Hopefully, I'll be back with the team when the season starts or at least close to when the season starts.

"Until the bone heals, there's nothing you can really do except make it worse. You've just got to let it heal. I'm just going to try to get back as fast as possible healthy and ready to pitch.""