MLB

Dickey, Sabathia are from opposite sides of track

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We tracked CC Sabathia’s every move in the late fall of 2008. He received a huge offer from the Yankees on the first day of free agency, met twice with Yankees officials in Las Vegas at the winter meetings and returned home to Northern California — prompting Brian Cashman to follow him there with a better offer.

Hoopla every step of the way, understandably, and the Yankees welcomed him (and A.J. Burnett, for the record) with a lavish news conference at the old Yankee Stadium.

Fast forward to roughly a year later. Jay Horwitz, the Mets’ venerable vice president of media relations, fielded calls from befuddled media members.

The general tone of those conversations, Horwitz recalled yesterday, was, “You’re sending out a press release on this?!”

Indeed, when the Mets signed R.A. Dickey to a minor league contract, the move generated surprising anger. This was the best they could do?

These two men, coming from such different places, will be at the same place tonight. They’re the headliners in the 2012 Subway Series finale at Citi Field, in the most highly anticipated intra-city pitching matchup since… well, probably since Sabathia faced off against Johan Santana twice in 2010.

This one carries more excitement, though, because of Dickey. His back story and his current story. His brilliant, five-game stretch. His opportunity to spread his brand on national TV against a high-profile opponent.

“If you haven’t seen this guy, you should tune in,” Mets manager Terry Collins said yesterday, before the series’ middle game. “We’ve all seen CC in playoff games, World Series games, because the Yankees are on a lot. A lot of people haven’t seen R.A. Dickey do what he’s doing right now.

“I just hope [tonight] he’s effective as he has been, because it’ll be fun to watch for the person who has heard about him but has never seen him pitch.”

“That is kind of cool,” Sabathia said, discussing Dickey’s rise. “The fact that he did pitch in the big leagues, a sinker-slider guy, was able to [develop] a knuckleball and be able to have the season he’s having is pretty cool.”

Sabathia wants to build off his previous start, a complete-game victory over Atlanta on Monday — the Yankees’ last win before snapping a three-game losing streak with last night’s 4-3 victory. In all, this has been an underwhelming start to the season for the big lefty, relative to his past years.

But Sabathia understands that, to the public, he’s here tonight as the other guy. The human bar-setter. The Apollo Creed to Dickey’s Rocky Balboa. He vows not to get caught in the hoopla.

“I’m excited it’s my day to pitch,” he said.

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Dickey said, “I’m really no more excited about it than if I were starting against the Pirates or Padres or Cardinals. … I think it’s been built up to some kind of crescendo probably but I will approach it no differently.”

Which would suit the Mets just fine. Whatever Dickey has done to prepare for his last five games, the Mets would like him to repeat it.

Asked on Friday if his hot streak exceeds the scope of imagination, the verbose Dickey smiled and replied, “It’s not beyond the scope. I have a big imagination.”

At 37, about 5 1/2 years older than Sabathia, Dickey is both the novelty and the newcomer in this heavyweight matchup. He has 52 career victories to Sabathia’s 185, zero Cy Young Awards or League Championship Series MVP Awards to Sabathia’s one of each, no chance at Hall of Fame immortality to Sabathia’s decent chance.

Sabathia has a better past resume and more future potential. Dickey has the moment. He represents the Mets, shocking the world. Sabathia represents the Yankees, taking their annual shot at a World Series or bust.

Who’s to say what a Sabathia-Dickey matchup will look like in 2013? Dickey’s magical run could easily be ancient history. Sabathia might not reach his old peak again.

Right now, though, this is as good as this series can give us.

kdavidoff@nypost.com