Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield hands the ball to manager Terry Francona, far left, before leaving last night’s game against the Yankees in the fourth inning. Boston trailed New York, 6-3, at the time.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — It wasn’t that long ago — 15 years, tops — that the New York Yankees were not the Red Sox’ biggest rivals.

For a time in the late 1980s, that honor was held by the Oakland As, who ended the Red Sox’ playoff runs in both 1988 and 1990. After that, the Sox concerned themselves mostly with the Toronto Blue Jays, who ruled the division for the first half of the ’90s en route to consecutive championships.

The Yankees? They were an afterthought. When the Yanks made the playoffs as the wild-card entry in 1995, it was their first visit to the postseason since 1981.

This summer, the Red Sox’ season will proceed without much regard for what the Yankees are doing. Even with their lopsided victory in the series opener last night, the Yanks have little chance of erasing the huge deficit that separates the two teams in the standings.

Like it or not, Red Sox fans will need to find another target on which to fixate.

Comparisons to 1978 are as baseless as they are inevitable. Ron Guidry is now the Yankees’ pitching coach, not their No. 1 starter. Meanwhile, the Red Sox’ pitching is deeper and far more formidable than it was 29 seasons ago.

What the Yankees are going through now, the Red Sox experienced last August. They’re in a transition, of sorts, something general manager Brian Cashman anticipated when he dealt off aging stars Randy Johnson and Gary Sheffield in exchange for a host of pitching prospects.

But much to Cashman’s chagrin, age caught up with the Yankees quicker than he expected. This afternoon, the Yankees will begin a stretch of three games in which their youngest starting pitcher will be 35-year-old Andy Pettitte.

The Red Sox arrived at a similar crossroad last August when injuries depleted their pitching staff and sent them into a tailspin for the final six weeks. But while the Red Sox had the offseason to fix their issues via free agents, international signings and trades, the Yanks have no such flexibility.

In-season overhauls are a thing of the past, regardless of payroll size. There’s little the Yankees can do to address their immediate needs.

Their aging veterans (Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu) have little or no trade value, and if Cashman deals off the likes of Philip Hughes or Chase Wright, he’ll merely be stripping the franchise’s inventory of arms and setting the rebuilding back further.

For all their pitching woes, however, the team’s real failure has been the inability of the lineup to produce as expected. Beyond stalwarts Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada (and the first month of the ongoing soap opera that is Alex Rodriguez’s 2007 season), no Yankee has consistently produced.

Surely, Cashman never planned for that

It isn’t just that the Yankees don’t have enough head-to-head meetings (eight) remaining with the Red Sox; the Yanks haven’t demonstrated the ability to keep pace when the teams are playing other opponents.

Whatever momentum the Yanks garnered by taking two of three from the Red Sox last month was soon forfeited when they proceeded to lose the next five, to the Angels and Blue Jays. A similar fate may await them after this weekend when the Yankees travel to Chicago for a four-game series with the White Sox.

Much as it may pain their owner, the final four months of this season would be best spent taking stock of the young pitching on hand and sorting out holes at first base and two of their outfield spots. If nothing else, the poor play of Abreu has surely convinced the Yankees not to pick up his expensive option for 2008. Damon, with two more years and approximately $26 million remaining, is more problematic.

Later, of course, there will come a no-win decision on whether to re-sign Rodriguez.

In the shorter term, the Yankees are staring at four months of rather meaningless baseball. If you think Red Sox fans are unsure how to treat that, think of how the Yankees feel.

smcadam@projo.com