Yankees Too Much for Mets and Phillies

By Richard Sisk

The Yanks have defeated the combined might of the Mets and Phillies in terms of the loyalty of New Jersey baseball fans.

Such was the verdict today of the sage Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The Institute's latest stats show that of the 55% of New Jersey residents who say they are "very interested" or "somewhat interested" in baseball, 47% percent list the Yankees as their favorite team, while 21% root for the Mets and 20% for the Phillies.

So the Yanks beat the Mets/Phils 47-41.

This is how Carroll, who flaunts his partiality to New Jersey, breaks it down in terms of baseball war and peace:

"Baseball in New Jersey is a battle of North and South," Carroll said. "The New York Yankees dominate in the North, where most of the people live, and Central Jersey, which gets New York television."

"Even the Mets pick up a little love among all those ex- (Brooklyn) Dodger fans who moved to New Jersey," Carroll said.

(Take that back Quinnipiac. The Mouth here takes great issue with the normally on-point Carroll. There is no such thing as an ex-Brooklyn fan, just as there is no such thing as an ex-Marine. We are forever.)