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As a Red Sox fan, it is never truly possible to breathe easy. Even being as we are, at a point where no team since the divisional realignment has ever failed to make the playoffs, we will constantly watch over our shoulders at the Yankees. Since it is entirely possible our playoff path will cross the Yankees’ at some point, it’s important to monitor and consider them at all points.

This has been a fantastically interesting season between our two teams. It has been one of role-reversal, of the grand old Tale of Two Cities rivalry, of failed and successful Japanese imports, of failed free-agent signings and surprising rookies. It’s been a season of simultaneous resting on past laurels and looking to the future with great anticipation.

This season has featured the debuts of two pitching prospects who have been heralded by each organization as a future ace: Phil Hughes and Clay Buchholz.

They come with similar pedigrees: both are young arms with outstanding minor league success, a multiple-pitch arsenal, and the luxury of being slotted behind veteran rotations such to maximize their development time. They were both in this year’s Baseball America top 100 prospects list; Hughes, at number four, was the highest non-Dice K pitcher on the list. Clay Buchholz came in at number fifty-one, fresh off having hit 97 towards the end of the 2006 season.

Hughes debuted on April 26th INauspiciously, allowing four earned runs in just 4.1 innings pitched. His following outing, though, against the Texas Rangers, he threw 6.1 innings of no-hit ball before having to leave with a hamstring injury. After his return on August 4th, he has found mixed success: he has allowed five or more runs in four of his six starts, and his ERA his dipped and crested and settled most recently at 5.65. The Yankees need him to play a major role down the stretch, as Roger Clemens’ elbow is still undiagnosed but will doubtless present a continuing problem, Mike Mussina has been abominable, and Kei Igawa is no longer even a plan C.

While the luxury of pace is a more viable option for Clay Buchholz, his most recent performance suggests that he no longer needs to be handled with kid gloves. Sure, he’s a rookie, but his no hitter was an absolutely brilliant performance. It was announced this afternoon that he will pitch out of the bullpen primarily, due to his high innings count and the organizational policy of developmental attention. Tim Wakefield will return from injury in time for his next scheduled start, so our surplus of rotation-quality arms means that Buchholz can be used in a setup role for the rest of the season.

This is made possible by our seven game lead over the Yankees. Red Sox Nation is in a complacent state following the no-hitter, but still wary of the upcoming series with the Yankees. If it were a four game lead, the grumblings to replace Jon Lester with Clay Buchholz would be no doubt getting louder.

Our respective fan bases expect Hughes and Buchholz to grow grey with the Yankees and Red Sox; we’ve seen what our kid can do, and it is with respect for what he has the potential to become that Francona and Epstein are screwing the lid on the lightning jar. On the flip side, it is evidence of how badly the Yankees want to not miss the playoffs that they are handing a full-time rotation spot to Hughes in their time of need regardless of its potential effect on his future development. One major difference is that Buchholz has pitched a full season across all minor-league levels, where Hughes’ injury rehab was taken very cautiously.

Regardless of what happens this year, both pitchers have bright futures. Phil Hughes’ comparables on Baseball Prospectus include such recent success stories as Jake Peavy and Brad Penny, whereas Buchholz’s stuff and sparkling MLB resume have turned the eyes of everyone who wasn’t looking already. DiMaggio/Williams reborn is a definite stretch, but these two have the chance of having parallel success for years to come and defining the next chapter of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry.