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J-Lo gives ‘Idol’ sailor high marks

Born in Kentucky, raised in Kansas and educated in Tennessee, Phil Stacey is about as “Latin” as a pastrami sandwich, but he had to turn into Rico Suave on Tuesday night in accordance with this week’s south-of-the-border theme on “American Idol.”

Stacey, a musician third class with the Navy Band in Jacksonville, Fla., brought out “Maria, Maria,” from 2000’s radio-saturated “Supernatural” album of performances with Mexican guitar demon Carlos Santana. It was a crowd pleaser, but the judges were mixed.

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High marks from Jenny from the block

Randy Jackson said, “most of it was boring;” Paula Abdul said it “was a really good vocal;” and sneer artist Simon Cowell said he “found no originality in the performance,” and called it “lifeless and flat.”

But the week’s “celebrity coach,” former triple-threat Jennifer Lopez, offered starkly different praise in her rehearsal segment with Stacey. After he’d run through the song a second time, she proffered her arm.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” she said. “You can’t buy that. At the last minute, he gave me some goose bumps.”

It was as effusive as anything she said to any of the night’s singers, but at this stage in the game, Lopez needs as much or more help than anyone on “American Idol.”

Notwithstanding Lopez’s years of slaving in the pop-culture salt mines — rising (or falling) from Puff Daddy’s arm candy to Ben Affleck’s best gal, then squirreling out of sight with husband Marc Anthony — today she has perhaps the least credibility of her career: Last week J-Lo sold 12,292 copies of her newest album, the Spanish-language “Como Ama Una Mujer,” according to the music industry Web site www.hitsdailydouble.com. Compare that to 2005 American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, whose “Some Hearts” moved 40,315 units in the same week, and last year’s contestant Chris Daughtry, who didn’t even win and whose self-titled debut sold 67,261 records. Even “Kidz Bop 11” outsold J-Lo, with 31,401 copies.

Of course, she’s still Jenny From The Block, and will doubtless be looking for a bounce after her appearance this week on America’s most-watched television show. So will Stacey. But at least Lopez will still have her millions, while viewers could abruptly end Stacey’s ride on the showbiz rollercoaster.

One good sign for the sailor could be a shift in consensus Tuesday afternoon among some Internet wise-guys. Though for a few weeks gamblers had listed Stacey as a favorite to be cut, the Web site Gambling911.com reported that smart money is now on the powerfully piped Lakisha Jones.

Jones’ soulful belting is believed to be too similar to rival “Idol” contestant Melinda Dolittle, and as Jones is considered the less popular of the two, she is perceived as vulnerable. But online gamblers have also consistently marked Sanjaya Malakar as a dead man, and nobody has yet gotten rich off that wager.

Yahoo! reported that this week Malakar was the subject of more of searches than Justin Timberlake or even the most popular name on the Internet: Harry Potter.

Stacey will find out Wednesday at 9 p.m. whether this week he was sufficiently caliente.