At any one time, there are approximately eleven billion storylines surrounding the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Obviously, this year is no exception. But within that story two of the more interesting subplots revolve around the continuing struggles of two young starters: New York's Phil Hughes and Boston's Clay Buchholz.

As a 23-year-old last season, Hughes finally began to fulfill some of the expectations that had been placed upon him. The young right-hander won 18 games, posting a 4.19 ERA, and a 2.4 WAR. He seemed to be ready to break out in 2011. Rather than breaking out, however, Hughes just appears to be broken. In the first game of the weekend series against Boston on Friday, Hughes gave up six runs on seven hits in just two innings of work. His ERA now stands at 16.50 after two starts. More disturbing than the stats -- if anything can be more disturbing than those horrific numbers -- is the news that Hughes has reportedly lost a good bit of velocity on his fastball, and is throwing more cutters than ever before.

Boston has its own parallel as struggling youngsters go in Buchholz. He started the second game of the series, and was shellacked on Saturday to the tune of five runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out just two. Buchholz has given up five home runs in ten innings this season, and he's now 0-2 with an ERA of 7.20. That ERA is actually only marginally worse than Boston's team ERA of 7.09 -- which gives you a pretty good idea why the Red Sox have started the season with seven losses in eight games.

Saturday’s outing comes on the heels of Buchholz's breakout 2010, in which he went 17-7 with a 2.33 ERA, led the league with a 187 ERA+, and made his first All-Star Game appearance. It was a brilliant 5.3 WAR season for the 25-year-old hurler.

Both clubs insist that their young pitcher is healthy and, publicly at least, both say that they have no plans to do anything except send Hughes and Buchholz out for their next starts -- although the Yankees are considering pushing Hughes back a day, allowing the arm to rest. In both cases, these are the right decisions if, in fact, both guys are healthy.

In Hughes' case there have been some warning signs that something isn't right with his arm. While he hit 92 MPH on the radar gun once Friday, he mostly worked in the upper 80s. During spring training, a scout told ESPN New York that there was an issue with Hughes' velocity. Yankees manager Joe Girardi insists that Hughes just hasn't been sharp, and that he won't be moving to the bullpen anytime soon.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona says that Buchholz hasn't been pressing as a result of Boston's well-documented early failures, and there's no reason to expect he -- and the other struggling Red Sox pitchers -- won't return to form the next time out.

"We're not even two times through [the rotation]; I don't think it's been a very good first time through the rotation, but I don't think we're going to pack it in," Francona said. "We need to try to get better. We all feel that way."

True, it's early in the season, and patience is definitely a virtue in this context. Let's be aware, however, that neither organization is especially noted for its patience. Giving up a bunch of runs against Detroit or Texas is one thing; it is a decidedly different thing to get hammered with the nation's eyes upon you in the latest chapter of the always hyped New York-Boston struggle.

While Hughes' spot may be safe for now, he has to know that Kevin Millwood and the recently-signed Carlos Silva are waiting in the wings. Buchholz doesn't have to worry about his spot in the rotation, but if he continues to struggle, Boston may find it especially difficult to climb out of the early hole in the tough AL East.

For the time being, the best course of action is to beware of those early-season sample sizes, because Hughes and are two exceptionally talented young pitchers when healthy. Let's not panic just yet, even if panic seems to be the default position of the New York and Boston fan bases.

Chad Dotson writes for Redleg Nation on the SweetSpot Blog Network and spreads the word in 140 characters or less on Twitter.

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