JETHAWKS NOTEBOOK: LOSS SETS JETHAWKS BACK IN RACE FOR 1ST.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

The JetHawks' chances of winning a first-half Valley Division championship dimmed considerably with Monday's 5-2 loss at first-place San Jose.

That might not be such a negative prospect, according to manager Rick Burleson.

``It would be nice,'' Burleson said of winning the division now, though the Giants increased their advantage to six with 12 games remaining. ``You'd like to know you're in the playoffs now and you can relax a little bit. But you also want to be playing good at the end of the year.''

Burleson is realistic, considering the front runner his team is chasing. The JetHawks' 12-3 streak didn't erase any of San Jose's lead.

The Giants won 12 of 14 games and used a quality start from Manny Bermudez, a bad-hop double by Benji Simonton and Juan Dilone's 13th home run to slow down the JetHawks.

``Their guy pitched a great ballgame,'' Burleson said of Bermudez, who tossed eight shutout innings before the JetHawks scratched out two runs against the Giants' bullpen. ``They're a good ballclub. For the past two weeks they've matched us.''

The JetHawks didn't get too many breaks Monday, from Simonton's two-run double that ate up third baseman Jason Regan to a pair of fly balls to right field that Michael Moore lost in the twilight at Municipal Stadium.

``We didn't play bad at all. We hit the ball pretty hard but right at people,'' said second baseman Adonis Harrison, whose 0 for 4 night included three flyouts to Giants center fielder Michael Byas. In all the JetHawks flied or lined out 13 times.

``The ball wasn't our friend today,'' Harrison said.

Infield of screams: While the JetHawks earned some rest after making the grueling bus ride from Lancaster to the Bay Area on Monday, the cancellation of batting practice didn't give the infielders much of a chance to analyze Municipal Stadium's terrain.

``We took infield, but (by skipping batting practice) we didn't get the feel for it,'' Harrison said. ``We knew the infield was going to be hard and fast.''

The dirt was downright demonic to Harrison, shortstop Ramon Vazquez and Regan, sending normally routine ground balls deflecting off the hard dirt and changing directions without warning.

The most damaging bad hop was Simonton's double that broke a scoreless tie in the fifth.

Three innings earlier, Harrison watched in horror as Simonton's grounder bounded high above his head. Only a brilliant barehanded stab by Harrison retired Simonton.

Vazquez wasn't so lucky late in the game, when a Dilone bouncing ball deflected off the dirt and into left field.

By game's end, the infield didn't receive such a flattering review from the JetHawks middle infielders.

``The worst infield I've ever played on,'' Vazquez said. ``We just have to go after the ball and play.''

Said Harrison: ``The ball just popped up without warning. It was like playing on hard asphalt.''

Surfing on the diamond: The experiment of the first-ever sporting event broadcast exclusively on the Internet, with JetHawks radio announcers Rick DeReyes and Dan Hubbard the guinea pigs, was a hit.

About 39,000 hits to be exact. That was the number of times the American Intercast Web site was logged onto for the Memorial Day broadcast of the Pacific Coast League game between the Albuquerque Dukes and host Fresno Grizzlies.

``A good showing would have been 15,000 hits,'' said Rick DeReyes, whose brother Ed produced the webcast. ``It went so much better than we thought it would go.''

In addition to the four roving cameras that televised the game on computer screens, the biggest success was the chat room on an adjacent quadrant.

That allowed Hubbard and Rick DeReyes to answer questions and comments on the air.

Among those who logged on was Mike Moore, the president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which governs the minors.

``(Moore) logged on from his office in St. Petersburg (Fla.),'' Hubbard said. ``He wrote in it was a great new avenue for professional baseball.''

DeReyes and Hubbard's landmark trip down the ``Information Super Highway'' isn't complete. The American Intercast group is in negotiations to cybercast the Triple-A World Series from Las Vegas in September.

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