By Jimmy Sirody
Don Best senior writer

The Subway Series between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees has been going on for a dozen years now, and the novelty, if not the excitement has slowly begun to fade. But this weekend's visit to the Bronx could be the crossroads for Willie Randolph, a former Yankee hero who has fallen on hard times in Queens.

The Mets, not unlike the Yankees, have been slogging on the long, flat road to nowhere. They just lost three of four games at Shea Stadium to the last place Washington Nationals and are now starting to point fingers at each other. The Mets have basically extended their awful 2007 collapse by 39 games. They look no different than the team that blew a seven-game National League East lead with 17 games to play.

The Mets have been only a .500 team since last May 19 and Randolph could be forced to pay the price. Of course, all that could change, starting with a sweep of the equally-mediocre Yankees.

The Yankees began the Subway Series on Friday at the bottom of the American League East. The last time the storied franchise was in last this late in the season was the morning of July 21, 1995.

The Yankees hit a pathetic .197 in their last four games (three losses) and .160 with runners in scoring position. It would be stupid to believe they don't miss MVP Alex Rodriguez and catcher Jorge Posada. But manager Joe Girardi still has Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano in his lineup.

Andy Pettitte and Oliver Perez match pitches in Saturday's matinee in a battle of southpaws.

Pettitte has lost his last three decisions after starting the year 3-1. He has made 16 starts against the Mets dating to 1997, going 7-3 with a 3.42 ERA. The Yankees are 4-0 in Pettitte's last four home starts versus their city rivals and 7-1 in his last eight starts against the Mets overall.

Perez is 3-1 with a 3.04 ERA in four career starts and 26 2/3 innings against the Yankees. He is coming off a decent effort against Cincinnati at home that followed three straight shaky outings. He limited the Reds to three runs and three hits in six innings and fanned eight. In his three previous trips to the hill Perez had allowed 12 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings.

The Yankees and Mets have split the last dozen series confrontations, but the Bronx Bombers have held the upper hand in the 'House that Ruth built', cashing in 18 of 25 meetings.

The Yankees have struggled against lefties, dropping 27 of 51 decisions the last two years and seven of 11 in 2008 while averaging 3.2 runs per game and batting .242. However, they have won 23 of their last 27 Interleague tests at home versus southpaws.

The Metropolitans have won six of their last 10 against lefties, including six of seven on the road. The Mets have come up short in eight of their last 11 against southpaws during the Interleague portion of their schedule. They have also flunked 26 of their last 36 Interleague road tests overall.

Pettitte has been on the low side in his last six starts when facing teams from the NL-East. The Yankees have slipped below the 'total' in their last five home games and at a 2-8-1 clip against lefties. They have ducked 'under' in 30 of 41 tries this season.

The Mets have topped the 'total' in five straight Interleague road games versus southpaws and at a 10-1-1 clip when facing NL teams with a lefty on the hill.

The Subway Series rivals have eclipsed the 'total' in 11 of the past 16 showdowns, including eight of 10 at The Stadium.

Check out our MLB odds and matchup reports.