We issue this warning to all students intending to enroll in History 1653: "Baseball in American Society"-- Professor of History William E. Gienapp now has the ammunition to make his lectures even denser than they were before. It has been 44 years since a National League team and an American League team have met in a Subway Series. The historic moment has finally arrived.

For starters, Saturday night's game broke World Series records by lasting a grueling four hours and 51 minutes. One hundred and one batters reached the plate and the Yankees, unfortunately, won their 13th consecutive World Series game.

This is especially unfortunate because we live in Red Sox territory. Taking into consideration this all-important fact, we grudgingly support the Mets in this race for the World Series title. The Mets--who broke our hearts in 1986 when they stole the Series from the Sox in seven games--have a daunting task ahead of them as they attempt to tackle the $112 million payroll empire of the New York Yankees. The Padres tried and failed in 1998, the Braves in 1999, but along with the new millennium, we hope to see a new World Series victor this year at last.

After all, the Yankees have won a disgusting 25 World Series. The Mets can claim only two world championships since the team's creation in 1962. But it is certainly an optimal time for the Mets to become top dog. The Yankees pitching staff has aged noticeably and their fielders can hardly run or throw a ball. After this season the team is due for a farm-system overhaul. Whatever the Mets may lack in talent they certainly make up for in spirit. All they need now is a little bit of World Series experience.

Then again, Mets manager Bobby Valentine told The New York Times, "We came with very little World Series experience, and we got a lot of it in one night." Batter up.