New York’s finest weigh in on this weekend’s Subway Series at Shea Stadium.

The New York Post’s Mark Hale:

[Mets catcher Paul] Lo Duca said yesterday Shea should be “a playoff atmosphere.” Billy Wagner said he knows what it will be like. The Mets star closer tried explaining it to Subway neophyte Scott Schoeneweis, attempting to educate him on what to expect.

“There’s nothing better,” Wagner said. “I was telling Schoeneweis, and he’s going, ‘Yeah, well I played in the Cubs and the White Sox,’ and I said, ‘I can’t speak for that, but I said you have no idea the circus that’s going to be here tomorrow.’”

Yankees right fielder Bobby Abreu never has played in the Subway Series.

“I know it will be crazy,” Abreu said. “I want to see how it is [tonight]. I am sure the intensity will be high.”
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The Empire State Building will be lit up in both Mets- and Yankees-colored lights this weekend, but the series winner earns its colors alone for Monday. In each of the last two seasons, the two clubs went 3-3 against each other.

Newsday’s Bob Herzog:

One team is in first place; the other is lagging far behind. That’s been a familiar scenario on the eve of the first Subway Series for nearly every season since the first one was played in 1997. But here’s a twist: It’s as if the teams changed trains in Jamaica and now are headed in opposite directions. Has New York become the Mets’ town? Are the Yankees hoping to salvage their season with a good showing against the Mets with little else to play for?

Newsday’s Johnette Howard:

The Mets have become what the Yankees used to be. They’re the team with swagger. They’re the dynamic club that keeps finding ways to wow you while they win. Their manager is setting a pitch-perfect tone rather than grasping for answers like Joe Torre is.

The Daily News‘ Bob Raissman:

The Yankees’ miserable start, which has them smelling Boston’s high-octane exhaust fumes, has made this series with the Mets crucial, both from a performance and image standpoint.

Going into tonight’s opener, reality tells the objective-minded that today, the Mets are a much more stable, much more solidified franchise than the 26-time World Series champions. If the Mets win this series – let alone sweep it – the media, already galvanized, will pounce.
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The Mets would leave the weekend cruising on a road to October. The Yankees would be navigating a very different course – perhaps even a road to ruin.