Subway Series Yet Again

You have to wonder if Mike Vaccaro's column about "New York is a Yankee town now" has been set in type for over a week. Yes: the Yankees have been the pre-eminent since 1993, when their resurgence was built around a core of Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Mike Stanley and an aging and ailing Don Mattingly.

The next season: first place by 6 1/2 at the time of the strike. '95: John Wetteland and Andy Pettitte, then David Cone, pitch the Yankees into the playoffs. Then, in '96, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter come up for good, Stanley departs for Joe Girardi, Jimmy Key comes back from arm surgery, Tino comes over from Seattle. And that was it for the Mets as No. 1 team in the city. Got it.

Cold comfort, right about now. It is one thing to lose. It is another to see your team hold onto a one-run lead halfway through and think, "Not a chance"--or, conversely, see your team down by three halfway through and think, "Not a chance."

Yeah, yeah. New York, New York, it's a helluva town, the Yankees are up and the Metsies are down. Enough already.

For cheering up, there's always Joel Sherman This week's Yankees could be this season's Mets--and if Jeter worries you, at least he's not Reyes.