MANHATTAN — Chalk it up to another thorn in the side of the long-suffering Mets.
The folks at the transportation website HopStop have weighed in on the home team rivalry between the Mets and the Yankees by analyzing the searches users in New York City are entering to get to Citi Field and Yankee Stadium — and found twice as many requests for directions to see the Bronx Bombers as those for the Amazins'.
"Not only does Citi Field get out-searched on HopStop by Yankee Stadium by more than a 2-to-1 margin, but Citi Field also appears to be less popular in every region of New York according to our search data," the company's blog said.
HopStop rated neighborhoods as "strong" or "moderate" supporters of Yankees or Mets, finding only one Manhattan neighborhood skewed toward the Mets, and only moderately: Hamilton Heights.
"We were quite surprised by that," said Alexandra Dao, HopStop's community manager. "It is sad," she said of how far behind the Mets trailed.
Dao noted that the survey wasn't "an exact science" since the analysis is based on the number of people searching for directions, which might indicate that they haven't already been there many times before.
Many searches coming from Manhattan, particularly Midtown, might be from tourists or workers leaving straight from their offices.
Mets fans on Twitter and Facebook expressed disbelief with the results.
"Upper East Side loves the Mets," tweeted someone under the name SVINUES. "Too close to Queens not to totally love those hopeless/hapless inevitable eventual losers. Lets Go Mets!"
Perhaps Mets fans just don't need HopStop, suggested Tony Kimas.
"Conclusion: Mets fans need less help figuring out the subway," he wrote on Facebook. "Or maybe we all live in Jersey!"
