WE know they are up there plotting in Boston.

Bill James is locked in a room spouting numbers with all the zeal Paris Hilton reserves for shopping, not home videos. King James is there with Theo Epstein, who’s hardwired to not one, but two laptops and at this moment is going over Alex Rodriguez’s Little League stats.

They are surrounded by stacks of printouts, empty sushi containers, Theo’s guitar, some broken furniture, several Ivy League geniuses and phone messages from reporters who swear by the Bill James Handbook 2004 so much that they won’t dare write a story without reciting a few statistics from the manual that hails itself as “Baseball Info Solutions.”

That’s not why I think, of course, but you can be sure those thoughts are not too far off base from what Boss Almighty is conjuring up down in the warmth of Tampa.

George Steinbrenner knows these Red Sox are not going away, but here’s the really scary part. Aaron Boone’s home run has made them stronger. Of mind, and lineup.

The moment Boone’s blast lifted the Yankees to new Rivalry Heights, Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino and the rest of the Nation hung their heads.

But oh so briefly.

“Game 7 in the short-term was a painful experience,” Lucchino said from his Boston bunker, “but in the long-term it has served as a catalyst for us.”

The Red Sox are in this for the long haul and this latest battle was only a middle round in this never-ending championship heavyweight bout.

“You take Game 7, we’ll take Curt Schilling,” is what they’re saying in Boston. “You take Javier Vazquez, we’ll make the next move, according to our plan.”

You have to figure that move will be A-Rod’s arrival, something that was noted here three days after the World Series ended. Of course, Texas has to first realize the Red Sox aren’t about to pay one penny of the $99.5 million left on Manny Ramirez’s tab.

A-Rod in Boston makes too much sense for the state of the game. MLB cannot afford to have its best player lost in Texas and must figure a way to have him join a contender, in a big market like Boston. What better way to get back at Steinbrenner than to have A-Rod playing shortstop for the Red Sox, especially now that it appears Nomar Garciaparra’s best days are behind him?

These Sawx are sticking to their plan, not reacting to Yankee moves. “Javier Vazquez was a good addition,” praised Lucchino. “It’s been a productive time for us, too . . . and we’re definitely not done.”

Asked if he had run into his good pal, Steinbrenner this offseason, Lucchino, who is both brilliant and feisty, said, “George and I don’t winter in the same places.”

He went on to talk about the frantic pace of this offseason, not only in Boston, but other places, “including,” he noted, “the Empire.”

It is Lucchino who coined that perfect “Evil Empire” nickname for George’s Yankees. Lucchino said this offseason has been “great for baseball.”

You can’t argue with him. Judging by the dominance of the baseball headlines you have to wonder, just when does the NBA season start?

“There’s a buzz here in Boston, and it is not manufactured by some public relations office,” Lucchino said. “It is generated in the hearts and minds of the fans.”

The new Boston ownership is coming up on its second anniversary – time flies when you are chasing the Yankees – and Lucchino is most heartened by not only the healthy state of The Rivalry, and his franchise, but by the words he hears from those he deeply respects.

Massachusetts’ native Jerry Remy, a former Sawx second baseman, longtime broadcaster and icon of the Nation, told Lucchino the other day that in all his years around the Red Sox, he had never seen the fans so excited.

“Here is a guy with great perspective,” Lucchino added.

That’s for sure. Remy not only saw Boone’s blast. He was playing second when Bucky Dent lifted his legendary home run.