NEW YORK – The New York Yankees should have known this was a whole new era in their lopsided rivalry with the Red Sox long before they were in extra innings of Game 7 six weeks ago, all of New York holding its breath.

Not just because of the fight last winter for Jose Contreras, either. There were more subtle signs that these weren’t the same old second-place Sox. The Monster Seats, for example.

Putting high-priced seats on top of the Green Monster at Fenway Park last season turned out to be such a popular – and profitable – idea that you wondered why no one ever thought of it before. Was there a more visible example of new ownership’s creative thinking in an effort to increase revenue and keep up with the Georges?

Unfortunately for the Yankees, there is now. Curt Schilling is officially joining forces with Pedro Martinez at the top of the Red Sox pitching rotation next season, after reaching an agreement Friday night, and if you think that doesn’t tilt the balance of power in the AL East at the moment, you probably don’t want to admit the Yankees were lucky to beat the Sox this last time around.

Don’t be fooled by Schilling’s 8-9 record last season. The 37-year-old righthander is still one of the best pitchers in baseball, with a body and a work ethic similar to that of Roger Clemens – who merely went 20-3 at age 39 to win his last Cy Young Award in 2001.

A line drive broke a bone in Schilling’s pitching hand last season, costing him six weeks, but two major league scouts who saw him in September say by then he was the same pitcher who won 22 and 23 games, respectively, the previous two seasons.

“He had dominant stuff late in the year,” one scout said Friday. “And he’s still a horse. Put it this way: Even if (Andy) Pettitte re-signs, there isn’t a Yankee starter I’d take over Schilling if I had to pick a guy to start a big game in the postseason.”

Of course, even while coming in second in the AL East to the Yankees the last six years, the Red Sox could lay claim to having the best pitcher in baseball, in Pedro Martinez. But now with Schilling, Martinez, Derek Lowe and Tim Wakefield, the Sox for the first time can match the Yankees’ pitching depth, as well.

And if they manage to sign free-agent reliever Keith Foulke? Well, he may not be Mariano Rivera, but he would give the Sox the kind of dependable closer they lacked last season. It doesn’t mean the Red Sox are a lock to end their 85 years of misery, or even finally beat the Yankees when it matters. But it sure does look like they’re going about it the right way.

That should scare Yankee fans, not to mention George Steinbrenner, most of all. This new Red Sox ownership may have earned a reputation for being quirky, with its devotion to all the Bill James-driven statistical analysis, but it clearly has a plan for toppling the Yankees, and so far seems to be executing it brilliantly.

Indeed, what impressed other baseball executives about the Sox deal for Schilling wasn’t so much that they got him, but that they did it in such stealth fashion.

“They let the Yankees grab the headlines on Schilling,” was the way one rival GM put it Friday, referring to the well-publicized talks between the Yankees and Diamondbacks at the GM meetings a couple of weeks ago. “Then they moved in for the kill without any warning. I’m not sure the Yankees had any idea the Red Sox were even talking to Arizona about Schilling.”

Perhaps Boy Wonder GM Theo Epstein learned from the beating he took last winter, when the Sox made no secret of their lust for Contreras, leading Steinbrenner to overpay for the Cuban righthander to keep him from going to Boston.

But anyone who may have thought the 29-year-old Epstein was overmatched knows better by now. He outmaneuvered the Yankees at last summer’s trading deadline for relievers Scott Sauerbeck and Scott Williamson, and now he has beaten them to the kind of marquee name that Steinbrenner craves.

You can argue that Epstein looks smart on this move mostly because D-Backs owner Jerry Colangelo, still stinging from being stiffed on his handshake agreement with David Wells two years ago, took some measure of satisfaction in sticking it to Steinbrenner and the Yankees.

But then, that kind of whining is usually reserved for teams the Yankees have outbid or plain beaten in recent years. These aren’t the same old Sox that George has delighted in outmaneuvering during his 30 years in charge of the Yankees. Signing Gary Sheffield won’t make things even, either.

The Sox have evened the score in a big way from last offseason. It remains to be seen to what extent the Evil Empire strikes back.

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(c) 2003, New York Daily News.

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Curt Schilling

AP-NY-11-28-03 2253EST