NEW YORK -- This is the first time since the advent of Interleague Play that you could look at the Subway Series and say, simply, objectively, certainly: "The Mets should win."

In recent history, of course, there haven't been many occasions in which to pick against the New York Yankees, at least in the regular season.

Last year, the Mets drew even. The Subway Series was split, 3-3, which was fair enough, because both of these clubs won 97 games. The Yankees still held a 32-22 edge over the Mets, but this May, things are substantially different in that department.

On Friday night, the Mets opened the 2007 Subway Series with a 3-2 victory over the Yankees. The victory showcased the skills of a player, Endy Chavez, who is not even a regular. The quality of the Mets' lineup is beyond dispute, but here their admirable depth was on display.

With the regular left fielder, Moises Alou, out with assorted leg injuries, and manager Willie Randolph wanting to give Shawn Green a night off, it turned out that Chavez was ideally positioned for a full evening of outstanding play. Chavez set the tone for the night by throwing out the game's first hitter, Johnny Damon, who was attempting to stretch a single into a double. Chavez had to have quickness to get to the ball and an accurate arm to close the deal. He had both. And then he had a two-run homer in the fifth.

The play on Damon was truly impressive. The hit was down the line and Chavez had to cut the ball off and make a true, hard throw immediately after the play carried him away from second base.

"Every time the ball is hit down the line, I'm thinking like a hitter -- double," Chavez said. "I know Damon can run and I was trying to be aggressive."

In the matchup of starting lefties, Andy Pettitte would have the much longer and more impressive track record than Oliver Perez. When people wanted to have doubts about the Mets' rotation this spring, the presence of Perez was one of the reasons given for the doubts.

But Perez, ditched by the Pirates last season after going 2-10, is resurrecting his career with the Mets. He is now 5-3 with a 2.90 ERA. He encored from a brilliant 8 1/3 innings last Sunday against Milwaukee with a winning performance against the imposing Yankees lineup: 7 2/3 innings, two runs, four hits, two walks, five strikeouts. On this night, he was good enough to be just a bit better than Pettitte, and that was very good indeed.

This might have been a spot for nerves. The spotlight is fairly bright when these two teams play, and never more so than on this night. The attendance of 56,337 was the largest ever at Shea Stadium for the series against the Yankees.

But Randolph figured correctly that Perez was the man for the job.

"He's the kind of kid that likes that type of excitement, that support," Randolph said. "He's not always perfect, not always smooth, but he fights out there, he battles."

That is exactly how it went.

"It was my first time in the Subway Series, and I was excited to start the game," Perez said.

He was still excited when he left the game in the eighth, making an impressive long jump over the first-base line, as the Shea audience gave him a standing ovation.

"I always play baseball like it's going to be my last day," Perez said.

You knew exactly what he meant, but pitching like this, he appears to have a lot of days left.

As we speak, the Mets have the best record in the National League, just as they did last season. They are 8 1/2 games better than the Yankees, a remarkable edge with three-fourths of the season still remaining.

There are reasons to believe that the Yankees will hit better than they have recently, and pitch better than they have for most of this season, particularly with the arrival of Roger Clemens.

But at this point, comparing these two teams, the issue is not simply that the Yankees are not playing like the Yankees. The other half of the equation is that the Mets are very good.

Players on these two teams often tend to diminish the Subway Series as a somewhat overhyped media creation. These are six games out of 162, and if these teams are rivals, they are not meat-and-potatoes division rivals. So it was refreshing to have Chavez publicly get in the spirit of the occasion.

"It means a lot to the fans," he said. "I think they take it personal. It's special because it's like fighting for the city."

Exactly. And in this case, the Mets have taken the New York lead, Queens over the Bronx, the New York City National League franchise over its American League counterpart.

For the first time in this Interleague exercise, you could look at this struggle for New York supremacy and say that, yes, the Mets should prevail. It is early; baseball in May brings few conclusions. But at the moment, the Mets are up in New York and it's not particularly close.