ADVERSITY ONLY IMPROVES JETHAWKS TEAM MOVES UP FROM WORST TO FIRST AFTER LOSING EIGHT KEY PLAYERS.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- It's tough to figure the 2006 JetHawks.

After floundering at the season's start with one of minor league baseball's most prospect-rich teams, they're now playing some of their best ball after losing eight key players to promotions or injuries.

Going into Tuesday, Lancaster (64-69, 32-31 second half) was locked in a hotly contested four-team pennant race with three teams tied for first.

First-half champion Inland Empire (71-62, 32-31) and Lake Elsinore (68-65, 32-31) are tied with the JetHawks for first. High Desert (69-65, 30-34) is 2 1/2 games out.

The JetHawks' 15-13 record this month is impressive since their roster has lost most of its top talent.

They've lost four of their original five starting pitchers (Greg Smith, Chris Kinsey, Matt Chico and A.J. Shappi), their closer (Matt Elliot) and their two most productive hitters (Mark Reynolds and Carlos Gonzalez) to promotions.

Third baseman Rusty Ryal, also a key contributor, suffered a season-ending broken thumb a month ago.

Perhaps the only thing more remarkable than that they're playing so well now is that they played so poorly to start the season.

The JetHawks were 7-17 in April -- one of the worst records at the time in all of minor league baseball - with a team that featured nine of what Baseball America called the top-30 organizational prospects in a parent Arizona Diamondbacks system ranked No. 1 by BA.

The JetHawks are now on course to go from worst-to-first after finishing tied for last in the first half.

``It's kind of crazy. I really don't know how we're doing it,'' JetHawks shortstop Derek Bruce said. ``It's pretty amazing. At the beginning of the year we had all this talent, and I guess we didn't know what to do with it. When we pitched well we weren't hitting, and when we hit well we weren't getting very good pitching. Now we're just kind of all playing together. We're just playing better baseball.''

JetHawks manager Brett Butler attributes the turnaround to nonstarters who've elevated their game since moving into the everyday lineup, such as Bruce and outfielder/first baseman Javier Brito.

The red-hot Brito is batting .444 (36 for 81) with seven homers and 28 RBI this month. Bruce is batting .376 (35 for 93) in August.

``The character that's in that room has filled that void, and that's a credit to them,'' Butler said. ``They could have fallen on their face, but they didn't. It's a credit to all those guys.''

Especially impressive has been their ability to withstand a brutal schedule. Monday was their first off day after playing 28 games in 27 consecutive straight days.

``It's like a wave,'' Butler said. ``When things are going well, it just kind of rubs off on everybody, and when things are going bad, it kind of does the same thing. It's nice to have these guys on a positive roll now.''

Also:

JetHawks outfielder Chris Rahl was 1 for 4 in Sunday's 11-10 loss to Rancho Cucamonga, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. JetHawks outfielder Jon Zeringue was 2-2 on Sunday, extending his hitting streak to eight games. Zeringue is batting .500 (13 for 26) over that stretch, improving his average from .218 to .272.

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com

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