No end in sight to Bombers' rein in Big Apple

No end in sight to Bombers' rein in Big Apple

Kathy Willens/AP

Closer Mariano Rivera and the Yankees have had plenty to laugh about over the last, oh, 15 years. The Bombers have ruled New York over that span while success for the Mets has been hard to come by.

The Mets and Yankees begin their 51st season as intra-city neighbors a word that seems more appropriate than rivals, to be sure. And if you dont count the expansion years of the early 1960s when the Marv Throneberry Mets were historically bad, the sense is that the gap between them has never been wider.

Call it a matter of payroll, perception and performance.

If you remember the 1980s, you know the Yankees didnt always own the city. These days its hard to imagine the Mets ever recapturing New York the way they did then, partly because the Yankees run of perennial championship contention over the last 17 years has influenced an entire generation of young fans wantin g to root for a winner.

But even more significantly, because the games finances so favor the rich these days, it would take a case of horrendous luck, combined with awful mismanagement sound familiar, Mets fans? to make the Yankees non-contenders for more than an occasional bad season.

Two decades ago, after all, teams like the Royals in 1990, the As in 91, the Reds in 93, the Blue Jays in 95, and yes, the Mets in 92, sported the highest payroll in baseball.

Of course, each of those payrolls was less than $ 50 million, and the gap between highest and lowest in baseball was less than $ 10 million. Last year, by contrast, the gap between first (Yankees, $ 202 million) and last (Royals, $ 36 million) was a mere $ 166 million.

And this season, after the Mets lowered their payroll from nearly $ 140 million to $ 90 million, the Yankees will outspend them by a rather staggering $ 110 million.

Thats a gap, all right.

So as the Daily News celebrates the best of New York baseball in this special section, its impossible to examine the disparity that exists between the local franchises and think the pecking order is likely to change dramatically in the foreseeable future.

Then again, the Mets have been in this position before. Indeed, in performance terms, the current gap probably wont turn out to be as wide as it has been in the past.

Johan Santanas setback-free spring training at least offers the Mets hope for a respectable season, rather than the disastrous one that loomed if their ace needed more time to recover from his 2010 shoulder capsule surgery.

And while the Yankees are loaded again, they likely wont be the 100-plus win juggernaut theyve been five times since their 114-win hallmark season in 1998. The AL East is too strong and deep for that.

So while the Mets are far from a contender, the difference between th e teams may not be anything historic. For that matter, it was only three years ago that the Jerry Manuel Mets were a 70-92 injury-riddled mess, while the Yankees won 103 games en route to a championship.

And nine years ago the Art Howe Mets were a 66-95 laughingstock in 2003, while the Yankees were winning 101 games that season.

As long as Santana stays upright, its hard to see the Yankees being 33 or 35 games better than the Mets in 2012.

Actually, the darkest period for the Mets, especially as it applied to the Yankees, was the late 1970s. Again, you have to discount the early 60s, when the Mets went a rather unfathomable 40-120 in their first season of 1962.

Otherwise, there was no greater contrast than the late 70s, when the Mets were trading The Franchise, Tom Seaver, in 1977, while the Yankees were Bronx Zoo-ing their way to back-to-back world championships.

In 77, for example, the Mets went 64-98 while t he Yankees went 100-62. The contrasting records were similar for the next several seasons until Doc and Darryl and friends came along to make New York a Mets town, with the help of George Steinbrenner making all the wrong moves for a decade or so.

(In the famous words of George Costanzas father to the Yankee owner on Seinfeld, How the hell could you trade Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps?)

That was then. These days the Yankees operate from strength, thanks largely to GM Brian Cashmans patience in recent years in developing a highly regarded farm system that complements their huge payroll and star-studded roster.

By the same token, their unmatched revenues allows the Yankees to erase their mistakes like no other team in baseball. Just last month they ate $ 18 million of the remaining $ 31 million on A.J. Burnetts contract so they could dump him in a trade with the Pirates.

And thats really the heart of the matter between the Yank ees and the Mets at the moment. The perception is the Mets have no money to spend, as they continue to recover from bad contracts to the likes of Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo, on top of the Bernie Madoff-related financial problems.

So even if GM Sandy Alderson revives the farm system, even if pitching prospects Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia and Zack Wheeler eventually lead the Mets back to contention and even a championship, itll never be the 80s again.

The current gap may shrink. But circumstances all but guarantee it wont disappear.