By C.J. SULLIVAN & DAVE HOLLANDER

SULLIVAN: I am going with the Mets owning NYC in 2007. They look so damn good playing baseball, and they look like they are having fun doing it. Watching Jose Reyes hit a triple and running the bases is seeing joy come to life. The Mets are now New York’s team. The city just doesn’t know it yet.

Across town, the chickens have come home to roost for the Yankees. Spoiled Yankee fans boo A-Rod even though he hits and hits for them. A-Rod is treated like some no-hit busher. The man is about to become the youngest player ever to reach 500 home runs and still Yankee fans  hate him. They are like Prince’s mother: never satisfied. The fans in the Bronx lack class and patience.

The spoils of a fat and rich empire weigh down the Yankees. It has happened to them before and it is happening again. The whole world is against them. Steinbrenner is in his last days and the 4 train is about to go off the track. Jeter, Torre and the rest should get it while the getting is good. It’s about to get real ugly in the Bronx.

The Mets are on the ascent. They have it all, and they do it with a mix of youth and age—which is just beautiful to watch. New York’s Latin population is fast getting behind Los Mets, and it looks like the 7 train is the place to be this year.

Prediction: Mets make it to the World Series; Yankees don’t even make it to the playoffs. I never thought I would be writing that in 2007.

HOLLANDER: The Yankees are a bunch of nappy-headed hos! There, I said it.

There are several things holding the Yankees back. Firstly, we may be witnessing the fall of the House of Steinbrenner. Unless he can get his own progeny interested, King George verges on becoming a raving mad King Lear. The daughters married numb-nuts, and now the entire Kingdom sits precariously on George’s rickety health. Just like Steinbrenner’s micro-managing from the owner’s box could affect every player in the clubhouse, so too does his virtual absence.

The other problem is starting pitching. Pavano doesn’t look ready, Pettite looks old and Kei Igawa is a crapshoot. Mussina, supposedly their best returning pitcher, got shelled his first time out. I don’t usually glory in the poor play of an athlete, but Mussina had it coming. His idiotic support of metal bats aside, the guy is a notorious sorehead. But I think that his public criticism of Carl Pavano during spring training has ostracized him in the clubhouse. Mussina claimed at the time that he was not just speaking for himself. Yet, do you think that all the other Yankees really thought it was constructive to bash a guy who means a lot to the team’s fortunes this year? I don’t. I think Mussina created unnecessary tension of which his teammates wanted no part. Mussina’s bratty personality makes an already uneasy Yankees clubhouse even gloomier.

One thing that’s working just fine for the Yankees is the bat of Alex Rodriguez. See what happens when you loosen up A-Rod? Yankees fans should bend over and kiss his maximus ass.  Watch A-Rod chase Bond’s single season home run record this year. He’s that focused.

SULLIVAN: But if A-Rod muffs a pop-up, some learned bore sitting in a comped box seat will boo him. I think A-Rod should be allowed to go to Yankee fans’ jobs and critique the hell out of them. Tell that CPA he fouled up a Schedule C Form.

Baseball is a game from the days when men were boys. It is a game you can always go back to. It is played almost every day for seven months. It’s like a good friend. It should be enjoyed, not directed. The Mets enjoy playing together, and the Yankees don’t. That doesn’t always ensure a winning season, but if I had to pick between the two clubhouses, I’d be a Met. They laugh, they dance, they hit and they field the ball really well.

Willie Randolph better get Manager of the Year in 2007 if the team keeps up their pace. If not, I will be led to believe that Don Imus is on the committee. Don Imus is a grey-haired relic. He wishes he had nappy hair, and he’s been a ho for his sponsors for years. Imus called the kettle black.

HOLLANDER: You are the Tawana Brawley of New York sports writers. You smear yourself with the feces from the latest muck in order to grab some cheap attention. Shameless.

The beauty of this season will be watching the Mets make Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins eat his words like they did in the hope opener at Shea. Rollins dissed the Mets spring training, saying the Phillies were the 2007 “team to beat.” He should’ve said the team to “beat on.” Rollins fumbled a routine ground ball with bases loaded last week, allowing the Mets to pound the piti-Phils in their first meeting this season. In fact, everyone seems to be padding their stats against Philadelphia. Reap what you sew, Jimmy.

All my friends kept telling me in March how the Mets had no pitching. I asked them if they ever heard of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder or Tim Hudson. “Of course,” they said. “Well,” I said, “You hadn’t until Rick Peterson got a hold of them back in Oakland.” Here are three more names that will be a little more well known by the end of this season: John Maine, Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey. You already know their pitching coach, Rick Peterson.

I have two suggestions for Phillies fans: (1) Go to hell. (2) Check out the best weekly column available on your team at www.bradzinc.com, called “Phillin’ You In” by Todd Harrington. In the meantime, watch the Amazin’s win it one more time before they tear Shea Stadium down.