APPLE OF OUR EYES THE WORLD WILL (AND SHOULD) BE WATCHING THIS NEW YORK PARTY.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

With the possible exception of John Rocker, I can't think of a baseball fan who isn't more intrigued by a New York-New York World Series than - what were the alternatives, again?

New York-Seattle? New York-St. Louis? Seattle-St. Louis? It's so easy to forget.

Let's declare a moratorium right now on the pontification about New York-New York - Mets-Yankees, the first Subway Series since 1956 - somehow being Bad for Baseball.

So what if the action will be confined to two ballparks perched closer together than the typical Los Angeles resident's house and favorite supermarket? So what if a lot of people in the other 49 states hate New York?

The other 49 states also have a lot of ex-New Yorkers - the ones who got out - to spread the passion.

This isn't Baltimore-Philadelphia, Kansas City-St. Louis or Oakland-San Francisco, other semi-local squabbles that baseball somehow survived.

And there are so many pleasurably ``wrong'' reasons to watch.

You'll watch because TV will be showing all of those Dodgers film clips from the good old days, and I don't mean the good old days when Chase Carey was in charge.

You'll watch because every run Mike Piazza knocks in will remind the Dodgers when things turned sour.

You'll watch because maybe Chuck Knoblauch will take out Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio with one errant throw.

You'll watch because you're confident that, at the end of every night, New York will lose.

You'll watch because, as a student of human behavior, you're looking forward to the whole thing ending with a gigantic lab experiment in which virtually identical populations conduct a ``celebration'' riot and a ``bitter frustration'' riot and show which is more destructive.

Only New York would make this accidental collision of its two baseball teams out to be the greatest thing to happen to the sport. Only the rest of the country would make it out to be the worst.

Despite the anti-New York posturing of the men-on-the-street you've seen interviewed, the truth is we'll all be watching. You don't like Mike Tyson but you watch his fights, don't you?

In the end the only thing in this World Series that would be bad for baseball would be bad baseball. And we're not likely to see that.

It's a great matchup of an old, class horse, the Yankees, and a ``now'' horse, the Mets. The Yankees got to the playoffs the traditional way, winning their division, even if they slumped at the very end. The Mets got here the modern way, as a wild-card team, not even best in the National League East.

That's the big difference between picking a champion these days and the last time they played a Subway Series, when the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 44 years ago. These days it's all about getting and maintaining postseason momentum.

The polls show New York is a Yankees town. But the pulse says 2000 is a Mets year.

If rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel, then rooting for the Mets is like rooting for a junkyard.

The underdogs have an $81 million payroll but an odd collection of players. Look at the lineup: Piazza, a catcher who some say should be a first baseman; Todd Zeile, a first baseman in his first year at the position; Mike Bordick, the replacement shortstop; Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton and Timo Perez, an outfield in which the veteran, Agbayani, began the season with 81 career hits.

They've come together quickly, though, their bullpen can hang with the Yankees', and if Bobby Valentine keeps up with Joe Torre, they'll keep that other team in town from its fourth title in five years.

It says here the whole thing turns when Roger Clemens, pitching away, gives up a Piazza opposite-field homer in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium.

Mets in six.

I think even John Rocker will enjoy watching that.

SMACK TALK

Scott Magoloff, a Daily News writer/editor, grew up in Long Island hating the Yankees. Brian Dohn, a Daily News writer, grew up in New Jersey hating the Mets. Their arrogance, for at least this week, is exceeded only by their dislike for each other.

It's the Mets, right? Geez, for some reason I could never remember the name of that other team that plays in New York. I do know Mets fans made urinating in the sinks of the men's room at Shea Stadium famous. Seems the lines were too long. Of course, that scent matches the product on the field for much of their existence.

Mets fans should just shut up and sit back and enjoy this piece of history, because they're finally part of something big - though it took the Yankees to make it special. The Yankees have 37 pennants, the Mets have existed for 39 years. The Yankees have 25 World Series titles, the Mets haven't played in 25 World Series games.

I know, some Mets fans are sitting there talking about the past being the past, while this is the present. All that shows is why they are a Mets fan.

Displacement is an interesting thing. I have roots in The Bronx, yet I learned long ago rooting for the Yankees was a joyless exercise.

They thought they were a little weak this year - and they were, and are - so what do they do? They go out and raid teams of whatever talent they have. Which is fine. Emotionless, but fine. The spry, enthusiastic Mets promote talent from within when things go awry.

The geriatric Yankees are barely holding on, despite whatever statistics might suggest otherwise. They are reduced to gutless tactics such as the Roger Clemens bean-ball of Mike Piazza. I find it convenient how Clemens won't be pitching at Shea Stadium where, assuming he made it out of the first inning, he would have to bat. Not that the Mets would have thrown at Clemens. They have far too much class for that.

I have been successfully displaced from the Bronx. As for the Daily News' No. 1 Yankees fan, he's not even from New York. The native of New Jersey knows plenty about urination at Shea Stadium because Jersey (pronounced JOY-zee) is the cesspool of New York in the same way the Yankees are the cesspool of baseball.

Game 1: Today, 5 p.m.

at Yankee Stadium

TV: Ch. 11

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, 2 boxes

Photo: (1 -- color) DEREK JETER

Ricky Carioti/Associated Press

(2 -- color) MIKE PIAZZA

Associated Press File Photo

(3) Old Yankee Stadium

(4) New Yankee Stadium 

(5) Ebbets Field

(6) Shea Stadium

(7) Brian DOHN

(8) Scott MAGALOFF

Box: (1) Then and now

1956 - 2000

(2) SMACK TALK (See text)