-The Yanks and Angels are still scoreless headed to the bottom of the fifth in Rally Monkey town. Los Angeles smacked around Ian Kennedy last night in a 10-5 series opening win. Thus far today, spot starter Dan Giese has matched zeroes with ace John Lackey, who just got out of a two out first and third situation by striking out Derek Jeter on three pitches including a nasty slider out he chased out of the zone. Textbook pitching. He started the Yankee shortstop with two perfect outside heaters setting him up for the big K. Jeter entered the AB with a .310 average in money situations where as the team average with runners in scoring position was just .261. Not helped much from Alex Rodriguez, who continues to struggle in those key instances following an MVP year in which he was clutch. You have to wonder if perhaps the added incentive of playing for a new $300 million contract factored into just how locked in the third base slugger was last year as he’s never been a reliable player in the biggest spots no matter how great his statistics are. The Yanks clearly need more from him in tight games if they’re to extend to 14 straight postseason appearances.

-Who ever would’ve believed that Mike Mussina would be the leader of a banged up Yankee rotation working seven shutout innings in winning his 15th the other night on pace for the first 20-win season of his career? In a year where not much has gone right for the Bronx Bombers, Moose has been superb and deserves some AL Cy Young votes.

-Without Oliver Perez, the Mets would be screwed too. He tossed seven scoreless last night for his eighth victory in a 3-0 home shutout of the Marlins. They moved half a game ahead of Florida for second and just a game back of the Phillies, who dropped a 2-0 12 inning decision to the Pirates last night in which former Sock Craig Hansen closed it out for the save.

-The good news for the Amazin’s is that in a year where somehow Mike Pelfrey paces the rotation in wins (10), they find themselves right there in this NL East race. Most encouraging is that David Wright is getting it in gear slugging a walkoff dinger to bail out the Mets pen over San Diego the other day and ripped his 22nd- a two-run shot in last night’s win. The third baseman is up to .288 with 22 homers and ranks third in the Senior Circuit with 89 RBI’s. Even in a year where he’s been very streaky, Wright’s poised to finish strong and have another outstanding season. They’ll need every big swing down the stretch from their biggest star.

-Maybe he heard me. A-Rod went yard for his team-leading 26th in the sixth off Lackey followed by Jason Giambi’s 23rd marking the seventh time this season Yanks have gone back-to-back. They lead the Angels 2-0 and still trail the Red Sox by three games for the wild card.

-Game Update: Mark Teixeira breaks up Giese’s shutout with a mammoth blast to dead center making it his second home run in a week off Yankee pitchers to cut it to 2-1. He also took Edwar Ramirez yard for a go-ahead grand slam in a game the Yanks cameback to win last Sunday.

-I like the Olympics and that opening ceremony in Beijing looked very top notch but maybe it’s just me but these ceremonies just take way too long. Let the games begin already! It’s bad enough we’re some eight hours or so behind with the Pacific even more. Air the events. Gotta say I was amused by that badminton match this morning. Those smaller rackets used to keep that thing are pretty cool. Being that the players can’t let it bounce makes it even more intriguing as there are some good rallies. My friends of course laughed but hey. It’s as Olympic as the sheer grit, intensity and determination of power walking.

-Off to go cover the first place Staten Island Yankees at the nice ballpark by the Ferry Terminal.