JETHAWKS NOTEBOOK: JETHAWKS AIM SIGHTS AT RISE ABOVE .500 : TEAM HAS NOT ENJOYED WINNING MARK SINCE APRIL.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

They had just routed the High Desert Mavericks, 11-1, Sunday afternoon, and the JetHawks found themselves in a familiar spot.

They had won as many games as they had lost.

Not that such a record is a negative thing in the balanced California League. By the end of Sunday's games, half of the teams were under the .500 mark. The JetHawks would prefer to experience life on the good side of that boundary.

Not since April 6, when they were 3-2, had the JetHawks enjoyed a winning record entering Monday's game at Lake Elsinore.

Five previous times since that night, the JetHawks (22-22) entered a game with a chance to move over .500, only to lose each time.

``We know we're at .500,'' outfielder Jayson Bass said when asked if the players are keeping an eye on the Cal League standings. ``We've been around .500 a lot and it's giving us a chance to get over that hump.''

Lake Elsinore has been the most pesky of the JetHawks' roadblock to a winning record. Three times in the past 18 days, the Storm ruined an opportunity to get back above .500.

``We're playing Lake Elsinore again, and we've had some good series with them. They've won some, we've won some,'' said Bass, referring to a pair of three-game sets at Lancaster Municipal Stadium. Lake Elsinore won two of three in each of them.

Rotating rotation: Pitching coach Jim Slaton didn't want to do it, but necessity forced him to put perhaps the Cal League's hottest starting pitcher back into the bullpen.

Brian Sweeney, the league's winningest pitcher at 5-0, made three starts to alleviate the rainouts and injuries to the JetHawks rotation.

All the 23-year-old right-hander did was win all three outings, combining to toss 16-1/3 innings, allowing just 13 hits.

With the sudden emergence of Saturday's winning pitcher Brian Fuentes, the continuing success of Patrick Dunham and Julio Ayala, the need to keep John Kelly on the mound and the possible return of Opening Night starter Denny Stark, Sweeney will return to his familiar versatile role as a setup man/middle reliever/closer. And don't forget a starter, a chore that Sweeney fulfilled to near perfection.

``Sweeney is very valuable for us because he can start or relieve,'' Slaton said. ``Ayala has been pretty solid and Kelly has a really good idea of what he's doing.''

Having a gameplan is as important as winning for a Slaton-coached pitcher. While Kelly's results from his first two starts coming from Double-A Orlando (0-2, 7.36 ERA) don't seem flattering, Slaton advises to discount them.

``He's pitched very well, much better than the numbers show,'' Slaton said.

Injury update: Stark, suffering from a sore right arm that came up negative in several tests, threw on the side Saturday without any difficulty, trainer Troy McIntosh said. It's possible the right-hander, who had unrelated elbow injury last fall, could return by the end of the month.

The news wasn't as promising for left-hander Jason Bond's sore elbow. His bullpen on Wednesday didn't go well and McIntosh had to shut it down again.

The disabled list also includes outfielders Matt Sachse, recovering from a dislocated left thumb, and Mike Burrows, whose wrists are bothering him after undergoing surgery on each last year.

Larry Haynes, a 20-year-old outfielder who came in from extended spring training on Friday, was in the lineup his first night with the JetHawks, but went 0 for 5 with an RBI against Lake Elsinore.

Water world: On one of the best days for baseball in what has been a rain-dominated season, two JetHawks still found ways to have damp uniforms.

Prior to the game (every Sunday is Kid's Day at the stadium), Luis Tinoco and Cirilo Cruz challenged the winners of a water balloon toss to another contest.

While Cruz caught Tinoco's first throw, the competitors backed up and Tinoco had his balloon explode in his chest.

Anton French had even more of a soaking experience.

After hitting his third home run of the season to cap a two-hit, three RBI game, French was in the middle of a radio interview with JetHawks broadcaster Dan Hubbard when teammates Ramon Vazquez and Adonis Harrison dumped a bucket of ice water on French that also provided Hubbard with a free shower.

Out of Yuni-form: Yuni Kim, who played for the JetHawks last season but was let go by the Seattle Mariners in the offseason, paid a visit to Lancaster Municipal Stadium on Saturday night with improved English skills and a new team.

Kim, a Korean-born resident of Kobe, Japan, who began the 1997 season hot but tailed off for a .242, 15-homer, 58-RBI season, has signed with the Oxnard-based Pacific Suns of the independent Western League.

JETHAWKS AT LAKE ELSINORE

Game times and pitching matchups: Tonight (7:05) JetHawks RH John Kelly (0-2, 7.36) vs. Storm LH Jason Stockstill (4-2, 5.63); Wednesday (7:05) JetHawks RH Patrick Dunham (4-3, 2.59) vs. Storm RH Renney Rojas (3-1, 3.58); Thursday (7:05) JetHawks LH Brian Fuentes (1-1, 5.63) vs. Storm RH Edgar Leyva (2-3, 3.75). All games at The Diamond.

Stiff sentence: Storm pitcher Jason Stephens, who threw the fateful bean ball to JetHawks outfielder Anton French that triggered a brawl between the teams on May 3, received the toughest penalty of everyone punished: a six-game suspension and $300 fine. Stephens is on the disabled list because of a fight-caused broken nose.

- Chris Cocoles

CAPTION(S):

Photo, 3 Boxes

PHOTO (Ran in AV Edition only) JetHawks third baseman Brendan Kingman is about to field the ball during a game against the High Desert Mavericks at Lancaster Municipal Stadium. The JetHawks take on Lake Elsinore tonight.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News

BOX: (1) JETHAWKS AT LAKE ELSINORE (See text)

(2) JETHAWKS 11, HIGH DESERT 1

(3) JETHAWKS 3, HIGH DESERT 1