Alex Rodriguez sounded more like Jose Reyes’ agent than his opponent before last night’s Subway Series opener.

The Yankees third baseman gushed about the Mets shortstop.

“They have the world’s greatest player right now playing shortstop over there, and most exciting,” Rodriguez said before the Yankees’ 5-1 win over the Mets last night. “I turn the TV on every time I get a chance to watch him.”

Rodriguez brought Reyes up unsolicited after being asked whether the absence of Derek Jeter and David Wright, both on the disabled list, takes any of the luster off this weekend’s series. Rodriguez said it did not, because of how well the two teams are playing and because of the presence of Reyes.

When asked further about what Reyes has done this year, Rodriguez continued to heap on the praise.

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“All-world,” he said. “I’m a huge baseball fan. Anytime you see a kid like Reyes, it’s very exciting. If I wasn’t playing third base, I would definitely buy a ticket and try to come all weekend because you have great players all over the field. Right now, there’s not a player in the world that’s playing at a higher level than Jose Reyes.”

For years, there have been comparisons between the two New York shortstops, Jeter and Reyes. But there is no debate this year as the Subway Series starts. Reyes, who will be a free agent after the season and is one of the leading candidates for the National League MVP award, is batting .352 with a major league-leading 43 multi-hit games and 15 triples. Jeter is on the disabled list with a strained right calf, and was batting just .260 before going down with the injury.

Rodriguez’s comments did not seem to be a direct shot at Jeter, unlike the remark he made two years ago at the World Baseball Classic. Back then, Rodriguez said of Reyes, his teammate for the Dominican Republic: “I wish he was leading off on our team or playing on our team. That is fun to watch.”

When Rodriguez’s comments from yesterday were relayed to Reyes, the 28-year-old was flattered.

“That’s great for him to say that,” Reyes said. “To hear that from him, that’s good man. He’s a Hall-of-Fame player. He texts me a lot. He texted me like three days ago. He loves to talk about the game.

“He’s one of the best players in the league, all of his career. I appreciate that from him. But I can’t let it go to my head. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing. But definitely, when someone like that says that about you, it means a lot.”

The Yankees entered the weekend well aware of the problems Reyes creates. Reyes has 30 stolen bases this year and can distract opposing pitchers. Last night, though, he got a little too aggressive, and was called out (though replays seemed to show he was safe) trying to take third with the Mets behind by two runs in the seventh inning.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi has told his pitchers not to get preoccupied with Reyes if he gets on base, but he’s hoping they can keep him off.

“You’ve got to keep him off the bases,” Girardi said. “The way he’s swinging the bat, it hasn’t been easy for clubs to do. He’s hitting close to .400 in the month of June, so now that it’s July 1 maybe he can go the other way.”

Rodriguez said this series has extra buzz not only because of Reyes, but also because of how well the Yankees and Mets have played lately.

“I can’t remember a more exciting series against the Mets coming up just because they’ve been playing extremely well,” Rodriguez said. “They’ve been playing at a really high level.”

Additional reporting

by

Kevin Kernan

and Dan Martin.

brian.costello@nypost.com

