PHOENIX -- Todd Stottlemyre's recovery from an elbow injury is ahead of schedule and the Arizona Diamondbacks have tentatively targeted his return to the rotation for Sept. 3 against the Florida Marlins.

	Stottlemyre

The right-hander has been on the disabled list since June 26 with tendinitis in his right elbow. He plans to begin throwing off the mound Wednesday, about five days ahead of what had been scheduled, after a week of throwing on flat ground each day.

"I'm fired up," Stottlemyre said Monday. "I've thrown seven straight days and I've had no pain. I have felt great every day. It's kind of nice to stand here and be honest with you and tell you I feel good when I really feel good."

If Stottlemyre can return for the stretch run, he would add to an already formidable rotation that includes Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and Brian Anderson. The Sept. 3 date looks good to Stottlemyre.

"Do I think I can make it?" Stottlemyre said. "Book it."

Team doctor David Zeman gave his blessing to the accelerated schedule, which would include a couple of rehabilitation appearances in the minor leagues.

"He's looking better than I had anticipated," Zeman said. "He's just doing great. ... His strength is great. His shoulder's looking great. His flexibility is really good. He just looks really good."

Stottlemyre already is pitching with a partial tear in his rotator cuff. That injury last season required extensive conditioning as he decided to come back without surgery, compensating for the tear by beefing up the muscle around the shoulder.

He came back to earn Arizona's lone victory in its playoff series against the New York Mets last fall, then got off to a strong start this season. In 14 starts, he was 8-5 with a 4.24 ERA.

But the tendinitis first sidelined him May 14. He returned on June 14 and initially pitched without any problems. Then the pain returned, worse than ever, and doctors prescribed a much longer layoff.

There is no guarantee the pain won't return, Zeman said.

"That's why we want to go cautiously," the doctor said. "But in terms of all the ways of measuring it -- tenderness, swelling, range of motion, strength, flexibility. All the objective things look great. And I think this time Todd understands that he can't tolerate a setback. He's not going to rush it."

Stottlemyre is expected to undergo elbow surgery after the season.

But he wants to come back for the tough September schedule that faces the Diamondbacks as they try to defend their NL West title.

"I'm going to push because I feel good," Stottlemyre said. "If there's anyway I can help, I'm going to try to help. At this point, I'm not going to get overly crazy about it because there's a long road between now and a major league start.

"But I guess from a long-term standpoint, the nice thing is it's not like I'm going to go out there and put my whole career at risk where I couldn't come back next year. That's not the case. Knowing that, knowing the structure of my elbow is in good shape, if I have to pitch in some sort of pain, so be it. I did it the first two months, I can do it the last two."