vilenatt

With David Price looking to improve to 4-0 against CC Sabathia, the Tampa Bay Rays seek a ninth win in 10 meetings with the Yankees as the teams conclude their three-game set Thursday night.

Tampa Bay Rays, CC Sabathia, David Price

Nypost.com

Post Time: 12:50 p.m.

All horses appear in post position order

1. 1 1/16m; $79,000; alw opt clm; 3up

SELF CONTROL drops in class after tiring to third in the Grade 3 Skip Away last out. He was an impressive allowance winner as the favorite going longer in previous start. Black N Beauty finished fourth in starter handicap to eventual state-bred stakes winning Saginaw last out. CHARLES RUSSELL defeated claimers at Pimlico this distance.

PN Horse, Wt.

Jockey

Last 3

Trainer

Odds

1 Dreaming Blue(L),121

C Nakatani

1-2-1

Stidham

4-1

2 Self Control(L),123

J Castellano

3-1-2

C Brown

6-5

3 Charles Russell(L),121

J Velazquez

1-5-5

Lake

12-1

4 Black N Beauty(L),121

R Dominguez

4-2-2

Englehart

5-1

5 The Cognac Kid(L),121

E Castro

1-1-6

Kazamias

10-1

6 Golden Gulch(L),121

J Lezcano

3-3-2

Kenneally

3-1

2. 1m; $64,000; alw opt clm; 3up

ELSAROARIN switches to Dominguez and stretches out after winning this level in first start off the claim. THIS HARD LAND finished second this distance and level while coming off a brief freshening. RECURRING DREAM makes route debut after coming off the pace to win both career starts.

PN Horse, Wt.

Jockey

Last 3

Trainer

Odds

1 Joe Corrigan(L),114

J Ortiz

7-6-10

Ubillo

20-1

2 Cap the Moment ,118

O Hernandez

1-4-9

Smith

15-1

3 Tap Attack(L),121

I Ortiz, Jr

6-6-6

Persaud

30-1

4 Litigate(L),121

J Castellano

8-8-1

Duggan

6-1

5 Pure Attitude(L),121

R Maragh

5-2-4

Orseno

8-1

6 Elsaroarin(L),121

R Dominguez

1-2-7

Grusmark

5-2

7 Good Karma(L),121

M Luzzi

3-1-5

S Hernandez

6-1

8 Recurring Dream ,117

E Castro

1-1-x

Barker

3-1

9 This Hard Land(L),121

J Lezcano

2-1-3

Ubillo

4-1

3. 5f; $70,000; medn spcl wt; 2YO

SWEET SHIRLEY MAE and entrymate KRAZY FOR KAYA both race with Lasix and show good works at Keeneland while prepping for career debut. BERN IDENTITY races with Lasix and shows a bullet work two back at Palm Meadows for career debut. HERTHUM has been working steadily at Laurel for career debut.

PN Horse, Wt.

Jockey

Last 3

Trainer

Odds

3 Song of Aspen ,118

J Espinoza

x-x-x

Persaud

20-1

1 a-Guyana Ambassador ,111

W Garcia

x-x-x

Persaud

20-1

2 b-Sweet Shirley Mae(M),115

J Velazquez

x-x-x

Ward

7-5

4 Herthum ,118

R Monterrey

x-x-x

Bailes

5-1

5 Bern Identity(M),118

E Trujillo

x-x-x

Breen

2-1

2B b-Krazy for Kaya(M),115

J Velazquez

x-x-x

Ward

7-5

6 Do You Smell Smoke ,118

E Castro

3-2-x

McClellan

4-1

1A a-Money in Return ,111

W Garcia

x-x-x

Persaud

20-1

4. 1m; $41,000; mdn cl($35,000); 3up

SOKITUMI SAMURAI cuts back in distance and drops in class for local debut after finishing second at Keeneland. BIG HERMAN drops in class after being a beaten favorite at Gulfstream. PRINCE ARION drew the rail for local and route debut after finishing third at Hawthorne.

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CHARLES RUSSELL, Black N Beauty, career debut, Joe Corrigan, Bern Identity, impressive allowance

Nypost.com

WASHINGTON — Federal agent Jeff Novitzky testified yesterday that Roger Clemens was not a target when Novitzky began questioning Clemens’ former strength coach, Brian McNamee, about performance-enhancing drugs.

Meanwhile behind the scenes Clemens’ lawyers sought to strike the testimony of former teammate Andy Pettitte.

Under government re-direct questioning, Novitzky said Clemens wasn’t the only athlete Novitzky asked McNamee about. Novitzky, now an agent with the Food and Drug Administration, said McNamee talked to him about a dozen professional athletes using performance-enhancing drugs.

Was Clemens ever a target, asked prosecutor Steven Durham.

“No, he was never,” Novitzky responded. “We never targeted the end user of these drugs.”

Last week, under cross-examination, Clemens’ lawyer asked Novitzky if it was his intent to have someone file charges against the pitcher. Novitzky, who had been an agent with the Internal Revenue Service when he met with McNamee in 2007 and 2008, said no.

Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, is accused of lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using human growth hormone and steroids.

McNamee cooperated with former Sen. George Mitchell, who was investigating performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, and Mitchell eventually identified Clemens as a user in his report to Major League Baseball. Asked why he encouraged McNamee’s cooperation, Novitzky said, “we saw there was issue with performance-enhancing drugs in major league baseball” and that kids were starting to emulate the players.

“We thought it was a good idea for Brian McNamee to cooperate with Mitchell,” he said, adding he didn’t know what was going to be in the report, including whether Mitchell would name names. — AP

Last week, Novitzky described the physical evidence he had collected from McNamee. Prosecutors will try to prove the evidence shows the former baseball pitcher used steroids and HGH. Clemens’ lawyers have said they will contend that the evidence has been tainted and contaminated.

Also last week, Pettitte had testified that Clemens told him he had tried HGH, only to say under cross-examination that he might have misunderstood Clemens. As expected, Clemens’ lawyers filed a motion asking that the jury not be allowed to consider the conversation between the two pitchers.

Pettitte said that it was “fair” to say that there was a 50 percent chance he misunderstood Clemens, his friend and one-time mentor.

“The court should not allow the jury to consider an alleged ‘admission’ that has all the weight of a coin flip,” Clemens’ lawyers wrote in a filing Monday morning, before the resumption of the trial.

McNamee is expected to testify this week, perhaps as early as today.

Roger Clemens, Jeff Novitzky, Brian McNamee, Brian McNamee, George Mitchell, Food and Drug Administration, Major League Baseball, Novitzky, performance-enhancing drugs, Internal Revenue Service

Nypost.com

Chris Gaston, Mike Rosario and Jio Fontan play for three different colleges in three different conferences but are linked together by the same Puerto Rican national team that hopes to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Gaston, Rosario and Fontan all share the same St. Anthony’s pedigree that is considered basketball gold in the metropolitan area and have all gone on to play for Division I schools. Gaston and Fontan went on to play for Fordham University, with the latter transferring to USC early in his sophomore season, and Rosario, an All-American in high school landed at Florida after transferring from Rutgers.

Rosario and Gaston will share a court once again when both try out for the Puerto Rican National team on May 16, with Fontan pushing his former teammates to seize the opportunity.

“Jio is basically the main guy who orchestrated it,” Gaston said. “He called me and told me that he was talking to guys over [in Puerto Rico] and he was the one who put me onto it. He’s the one who has been handling everything for me.”

Fontan, who played with Rosario on the under-19 team three years ago, will not be playing for the Puerto Rican team as he rehabs following surgery to repair a torn ACL he suffered last August.

“I speak with Jio every day,” Gaston said. “He’s hurt right now, so he’s not going to play, but he is going to go over there to hang out with us.”

The Post learned that Gaston and Rosario would be trying out for the Puerto Rican National team last week, and the Fordham star thinks they both have a shot at making the team.

“I think we mesh well, I know what [Rosario] can do,” Gaston said. “We might have a chance of making the team, we just have to perform in the workouts. I think we’re capable of making the team, anything is possible.”

Even if he fails to make the team, just being considered for the team is something Gaston believes is an honor.

“To say that you are part of a national team it’s crazy. I don’t even care if I don’t play, just to be on the team [is an honor],” Gaston said. “I’d make everyone proud and happy, my family and my university. It would be a tremendous, tremendous thing.”

The tryouts take place on May 16, and Puerto Rico will take part in a qualifying tournament in early July.

Mike Rosario, Jio Fontan, Chris Gaston, national team, national team, Rosario, Puerto Rican National team, Puerto Rican, Gaston, Fontan, Puerto Rico, Fordham University

Nypost.com

OAK PARK, Calif. -- Police in southern California were searching Saturday for a movie studio executive who disappeared from his neighborhood.

Gavin Smith, 57, was last seen Tuesday night driving his Mercedes near his home in Oak Park, about 35 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, KTLA-TV reported.

He works in the distribution department at 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Smith was wearing purple pants and black and gray shoes when he was last seen between 9:00pm and 10:00pm local time Tuesday, police said.

"We are very concerned about Gavin," Fox distribution president Chris Aronson told The Hollywood Reporter. "We are actively doing what we can to assist the L.A. Sheriff's department."

20th Century Fox is owned by News Corporation, which owns NewsCore and The Post.

20th Century Fox, OAK PARK, Calif., The Hollywood Reporter, downtown Los Angeles, southern California, Los Angeles, Chris Aronson, a movie studio executive

Nypost.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ In his first tournament since his worst career finish as a pro at the Masters last month (a tie for 40th), Tiger Woods is likely to miss the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow on Friday after shooting a 1-over-par 73 in the second round to finish even par for his two-day stay.

Considering Woods’ victory at Bay Hill in March, a win that suggested his game was on the rise and that he was back, this result was startling.

Woods called the feeling he left the course with Friday “frustration,’’ adding, “I finished, what, 12 back of the lead and I'm not playing the weekend where I have a chance to compete for a title. I've missed my share of cuts in the past, and they don't feel good.’’

Woods missing cuts was once rarer than seeing albatrosses in major championships. Now, it seems not even Woods knows what to expect when he tees it up anymore.

This would be just the eighth time since Woods turned pro in 1996 that missed a 36-hole cut, and the first time that he's done so twice at the same venue or tournament. Woods missed the cut here in 2010, the last time he played here, which was his second tournament after returning from a five-month scandal hiatus.

Woods' last missed cut came at the 2011 PGA Championship in Atlanta, where he was playing for the second time following a four-month break due to knee and Achilles injuries.

From the 1998 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am to the 2005 Byron Nelson Championship, Woods did not miss a cut on the PGA Tour, a record 142 consecutive tournaments. Since that time, no player has gone as many as 50 straight tournaments without missing a cut.

In his two rounds, Woods hit only 14-of-28 fairways (he was just 6-of-14 Friday) and he was a pedestrian 26-of-36 in greens in regulation. He had 62 putts, 33 Friday.

Much like he did after the Masters, Woods on Friday lamented about falling into his old Hank Haney habits.

“It all has to do with my setup,’’ he said. “If I get over the golf ball and I feel uncomfortable, I hit it great. It's just that I get out there and I want to get comfortable and I follow my old stuff and I hit it awful. All the shots I got uncomfortable on, I just said, ‘I'm going to get really uncomfortable and make it feel as bad as it possibly could,’ I striped it.

“I know what I need to do, it's just I need more reps doing it. Obviously we've changed a bunch of different things and every now and again I fall into the same stuff, old stuff. That doesn't work with a combo platter of old and new.’’

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Tiger Woods, Wells Fargo Championship, Byron Nelson Championship, tournament, PGA Championship

Nypost.com

Ed Fountaine

Post horse racing writer Ed Fountaine provides an in-depth preview of the 20-horse field. The 138th Kentucky Derby will be run Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Post time is 6:24 p.m.

Kentucky Derby, Ed Fountaine, Ed FountainePost horse racing

Nypost.com

LOS ANGELES — Iron Man and his fellow Avengers are off to a solid start as they bring their save-the-world act to U.S. theaters.

"The Avengers" launched domestically early Friday with $18.7 million from midnight screenings. That puts it at No. 8 all-time for midnight debuts, just behind the $19.7 million start for "The Hunger Games" in March.

But it's well under half the amount for the No. 1 midnight draw — the "Harry Potter" finale last fall with $43.5 million.

'THE AVENGERS' COULD HAVE BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND EVER

'AVENGERS' ADVANCE TICKET SALES SOARING

THE POST'S 'AVENGERS' REVIEW

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" also went on to the biggest domestic opening weekend ever with $169.2 million.

While "The Avengers" started modestly compared with the last "Harry Potter" flick, it still may end up among the top weekend openings ever. "The Hunger Games" followed its midnight start with a $152.3 million debut weekend, the No. 3 opening behind "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and "The Dark Knight" at $158.4 million.

Produced by Disney's Marvel Studios unit, "The Avengers" already is a blockbuster overseas, where it opened last week in 39 markets.

Disney reported that through Thursday, "The Avengers" had taken in $304 million internationally. In barely a week, "The Avengers" has pulled in far more overseas than some of Marvel Studios' earlier releases in their entire run, including "Iron Man," ''Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger."

"The Avengers" assembles key Marvel Comics superheroes introduced in earlier films, including Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as superhero recruiter Nick Fury, and Mark Ruffalo makes his debut as the Incredible Hulk.

The Avengers, Marvel Studios, The Hunger Games, midnight screenings, Robert Downey Jr., Avengers, Chris Hemsworth, opening weekend

Nypost.com

Ken Davidoff
Follow Ken on Twitter
Blog: Baseball Insider

WASHINGTON — A boy grows up in Louisiana and Texas, dreams of making the majors someday and maybe winning a World Series title or five. That’s ambitious enough, right?

Liberate a former friend in need? Doubtful that came up in young Andy Pettitte’s mind as he formulated his life goals.

Expose his country’s justice system as woefully incompetent? I’d have to say definitely not.

But that’s what the Yankees’ returning left-hander did Wednesday, submitting testimony so damaging to the U.S. government’s case against Roger Clemens — so conflicting with what the prosecutors hoped to get — that District Judge Reggie Walton seems to be seriously considering the defense’s motion to strike Pettitte’s relevant comments out of the case altogether.

AP

ON TRIAL: Roger Clemens (right) and his lawyer, Rusty Hardin, leave the federal court house yesterday in Washington, where former teammate Andy Pettitte testified for the second straight day

AP

Andy Pettitte

“At this time, he is conflicted,” Walton said, of Pettitte, to U.S. Assistant Attorney Steven Durham. “He doesn’t know what Mr. Clemens said to him.”

Which sounds pretty similar to Clemens’ famous 2008 comment to Congress, the one we all mocked endlessly, that Pettitte “misremembered.”

The most important moment of this trial so far came when defense attorney Mike Attanasio brought up the purported conversation between Pettitte and Clemens during the 1999-2000 offseason. Pettitte testified on Monday that, in that exchange, Clemens revealed he used human growth hormone, something that — according to Pettitte — Clemens denied when Pettitte brought up the matter in March 2005.

Attanasio got Pettitte to agree on Monday this discussion was “passing” and “casual,” and Wednesday, Attanasio doubled down, asking Pettitte if he might have misunderstood Clemens in that conversation.

“I could have,” Pettitte responded.

To follow that, Attanasio proposed that it was “50-50” that Pettitte misunderstood Clemens in the conversation.

“Is that fair?” Attanasio asked.

“I’d say that’s fair,” Pettitte calmly responded.

The courtroom grew so quiet, you could hear government lawyers’ careers drop.

Durham tried to clean up the mess in his redirect examination; he at least extracted from Pettitte that he recalled no other topics of conversation from that day. Yet after Pettitte departed the premises, entering a black SUV and declining to answer reporters’ questions, Attanasio raised the issue of eliminating altogether Pettitte’s comments about the conversation in question. And Walton capitalized on this discussion to openly chide Durham.

When Durham argued that Pettitte’s “50-50” concession was “inconsistent with his recollection,” Walton told Durham, “That’s what I was waiting for you to ask [in redirect]. You never asked him.”

Eye yi yi. What a train wreck. Our tax dollars at (exceptionally poor) work.

We get it, right? Clemens’ 2008 denials were so brazen, so seemingly profoundly dishonest, that it felt like the government had to press charges. To not do so would be the equivalent of watching a man rob your home and letting him run away without pursuit.

But there’s a wide gulf between indictment and conviction, and in this case, right now, that gulf seems vaster than a solar system. Pettitte came here to prop up Brian McNamee, the prosecution’s shaky chief witness. Instead, he might have delivered a “Get out of Jail Free” card to Clemens, and now he can focus fully on his pitching comeback.

Other stuff you should know:

Pettitte did help the prosecution in a secondary matter. Clemens claims that McNamee injected him with lidocaine and B12, and that’s how McNamee has needles with Clemens’ DNA. During the redirect, Pettitte said that, despite his close relationship with McNamee, he never asked McNamee to inject him with anything because “He wasn’t someone who would do a B12 shot” and “With the Yankees, he wouldn’t have access to (painkillers).”

One astute juror asked Pettitte (through a written question) whether Clemens brought up McNamee’s name in that 1999 conversation. Judge Walton said that was irrelevant. The jury doesn’t know that Pettitte, allegedly like Clemens, acquired HGH with McNamee’s help.

***

In general, Pettitte seemed slightly less miserable than he had Monday. He wore the same gray suit and gray-and-black striped tie for the second straight day; apparently, he had packed for just one day.

***

FDA agent Jeff Novitzky, who gained notoriety for his role in the BALCO case with Barry Bonds, closed the day’s testimony by saying that he reached out to McNamee through Kirk Radomski, the former Mets clubhouse attendant who was caught with extensive illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and sat with McNamee in multiple meetings as McNamee detailed his illegal PED involvement with Clemens, Pettitte and others. Novitzky also detailed how he obtained, and carefully handled, McNamee’s evidence of Clemens’ illegal PED usage.

kdavidoff@nypost.com

Andy Pettitte, Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Attanasio, Mike Attanasio, Reggie Walton, Assistant Attorney Steven Durham

Nypost.com

It took about 15 hours to get a self-assessment from Rangers center Brain Boyle concerning his first game back from a concussion, and it came clear as possible.

“I stunk,” Boyle said yesterday about his performance in the Capitals’ 3-2 win in Game 2 of the conference semifinal at the Garden on Monday, Boyle’s first game back after missing three straight.

“I’ve got to be better,” Boyle said. “For the most part, we played well, but I’ve got to be better.”

Boyle and the Rangers were preparing to head to Washington for tonight’s Game 3, the series tied 1-1. By taking a big hit to the head from Chris Neil in Game 5 of the opening-round series against the Senators, it would have been easy for Boyle to explain away his performance, to lend logic to why he played the way he did.

Reuters

ICE COLD: Despite the struggles of Brian Boyle (22), who says he “stunk” in the Rangers’ 3-2 Game 2 loss to the Capitals on Monday, his first game back after missing the previous three with a concussion.

Instead, Boyle did the exact opposite.

“At this point, it doesn’t really matter,” he said about why his game dropped off. “It’s playoffs, I’ve got to be better than that.”

Boyle said, “I’m good [physically]. ... You don’t have to ask me about my head.” But because it was his first concussion, he did think about it during the game, yet did his best to focus on the task at hand.

“After I got banged around a little bit, we had some physical battles, I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” Boyle said. “But it was good. No ill effects.’’

The main reason there is so much focus on Boyle is he was the Rangers’ catalyst early in the first round, scoring three goals in the first three games of the playoffs — two of them game-winners — while the Rangers took the series lead over the Senators, 2-1.

He was effective in Game 4, but in the second period of Game 5, Neil lined him up and landed a shoulder directly into his head, stunning the 6-foot-6 Boyle and knocking him out of the final two games of the series, both of which the Rangers would win.

Asked if that was the best hockey of his career, Boyle said, “Probably in this league, Yeah. Four games, anyway.

“I felt pretty good physically, pucks going in,” Boyle said. “That’s a long time ago, a different series. Now we’ve got another team, and if I’m going to be a big part of it, like I want to be, I have to be better.”

Boyle thought back to one specific series when he needed to be better, one more critical than any other in the game.

After the Rangers had erased a 2-0 deficit to tie it 2-2 with just under eight minutes remaining, the Capitals went on a power play and Boyle took the ice with the first-unit penalty kill. Consistently relied on in the regular season to take defensive-zone draws, Boyle skated up to the dot against Niklas Backstrom — and lost.

The puck went back to Alex Ovechkin, who immediately fired a rifle shot past Henrik Lundqvist for what would be the game-winning goal.

“I lose the draw clean, I don’t block a shot, then we’re down,” Boyle said. “It just wasn’t enough to win.”

bcyrgalis@nypost.com

Brian Boyle, Rangers center Brain Boyle, Rangers, Rangers, Capitals

Nypost.com