JETHAWKS NOTEBOOK: FIRST (BASE) TIME FOR EVERYTHING.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

ADELANTO - A glut of outfielders and a shortage of first basemen has left JetHawks manager Wally Backman scrambling to get some of the team's most productive hitters in the lineup on a regular basis while looking for a way to get first baseman Sean Luellwitz some much-needed rest.

Backman is hoping Jay Garthwaite can solve both problems.

Garthwaite, a slugging outfielder, is taking the developmental equivalent of a crash course on playing first, a position he saw limited action at in high school. Backman said he planned to get Garthwaite some work at the position on Monday, and expects Garthwaite to play the position either tonight or Wednesday.

``We're going to throw him into the fire and see what happens,'' Backman said. ``If it works out, it gives us some options.''

The JetHawks have carried five outfielders since Reggie Abercrombie was assigned to Lancaster in early August after being acquired by the Diamondbacks from the Dodgers in the Steve Finley trade.

Luellwitz had played in 42 consecutive games going into Monday with a nagging heel injury that sidelined him for seven games in early July.

The JetHawks have had just three scheduled off days since that streak began on July 9, and don't have another off day for the remainder of the regular season, which concludes Sept. 6.

``Because we've won the first half we've got to make sure that we're 100 percent by the time the playoffs start, and by giving Lew a couple of more days off I think it's going to make us better,'' Backman said. ``It'll give us a little more versatility, so if somewhere during the course of a game I want to pinch hit or something I'll always know Garthwaite can come in and play first.''

Garthwaite played first base his freshman year in high school. At the University of Washington he worked out at the position but never saw playing time there.

He'll have to borrow Luellwitz's mitt for the duration of the experiment.

Garthwaite, who also played shortstop in high school, said he's lobbied coaches for the chance to play an infield position in the past, and is excited about the opportunity his manager's outside-the-box thinking has created for him.

``Coaches never believed me,'' Garthwaite said. ``They just think outfielders can't play the infield and position players can't pitch.''

--Spin cycle: Doc Brooks went 5 for 5 with a homer and two doubles in Sunday's 9-8 victory over High Desert to become the third JetHawk in as many days to complete three-fourths of the cycle.

Jon Zeringue was a triple short of the cycle in Saturday's 13-10 loss to High Desert, and Reggie Abercrombie had two doubles, a triple and a homer in Friday's 13-1 victory over the Mavericks.

Needing just a single, Abercrombie lost his cycle bid on a blooper down the left field line that ricocheted off the warning track dirt and into the Mavericks bullpen for a ground-rule double.

High Desert's Travis Hinton, who went 4 for 5 in Sunday's game, was a triple shy of a cycle.

If nothing else, the weekend series showed how hard hitting for the cycle is.

``It's tough,'' Brooks said. ``Just getting three hits in a game is hard enough.''

--Error: Third baseman Steve Garrabrants' fielding error in the third inning of Saturday's game ended a streak of nine consecutive errorless games and 86 consecutive innings in which the JetHawks didn't commit a defensive miscue.

Gideon Rubin [phone]

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com