NEW YORK – Jason Varitek knows what Cy Young Award-winning pitchers look like. He had an up-close view of Pedro Martinez’ greatness when the former Red Sox ace claimed the honor in 1999 and 2000, and in his Red Sox career he has had the best seat in the house for seven other seasons in which a pitcher ranked in the top five.

And so, he speaks on some authority when asked whether Jon Lester should be considered for the highest award conferred upon pitchers.

“Absolutely,” said Varitek. “He and our right-hander [Clay Buchholz] should 100 percent, no question, be considered in that race. We would be nowhere without those two having really the quality start after quality start that they’ve put up.”

In some respects, it is immaterial whether or not Lester ultimately takes home the prize. Regardless of how he is recognized, it is more significant that he has established himself as a pitcher who performs as one of the best in the game, year after year. And over the last three years, the 26-year-old has done just that.

The latest glimmering example of brilliance took place on Saturday afternoon in Yankee Stadium, a house of horrors for many a visiting pitcher that Lester has turned into a stage for his excellence. The southpaw steered through five innings before allowing a hit, finishing his day with seven shutout innings in which he permitted just two hits and three walks, to lead the Sox to a 7-3 win over the Yankees. (Recap.)

In the past and current home of the Yankees, Lester is now 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA. For the 2010 season, which he is concluding with a startling finishing kick, his numbers now stack up against any pitcher’s. On the strength of a run of six wins in as many starts, he is 19-8 with a 2.96 ERA. He is second in the AL in wins and strikeouts (220), first in strikeouts per nine innings (9.7), fifth in ERA, sixth in WHIP (1.157),

Yet the number that Lester said he is most proud of this year is his innings. On Saturday, his seven frames pushed him to 204 for the season, marking the third straight year in which he has logged 200 or more innings.

“When you’re getting up to the big leagues, that’s your number. You make all your starts, throw 200 innings,” said Lester. “Now that I’ve done it a couple of years, I definitely expect it of myself going into the offseason and coming into spring training. I think that number is more important than even any other stat that’s out there.”

The idea that Lester could be a perennial 200-inning pitcher means that he is a cornerstone of the Red Sox rotation upon whom the Sox can build their pitching staff.

He is one of a dozen pitchers to reach the 200-inning plateau in each of the last three seasons, and he is one of just five pitchers to log 200 or more innings with a sub-3.50 ERA in 2008, 2009 and 2010, joining Roy Halladay, CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez in an exclusive five-man who’s who of the best pitchers in the game.

“He’s durable [and] obviously talented to be able to compile that many innings, particularly in this division,” said Sox pitching coach John Farrell. “It’s one thing to compile 200 innings, but if you’re not performing to the level of competing for a division title and performing into October, that’s another thing. In his case, he’s doing all of it.”

As he achieves year-after-year dominance, two thoughts stand out, one related to his past, and one to his future.

First, there is the issue of Lester’s emergence into one of the strongest, most durable pitchers in the game just four years removed from being treated for cancer. That Lester has become the picture of durability is little short than remarkable.

“I see what the young man has gone through in his life. That’s always going to be the first thing that pops into my head, aside from him developing into a great pitcher,” Varitek said, when asked about Lester’s innings log. “He’s worked hard. It’s a testament to his work and being a big, strong man, to have that ability to endure the kind of pounding as a pitcher. It’s not easy for people to do, to repeat, do it again, and he’s actually getting better now. He’s much better now than he was two years ago.

“He’s worked. He’s a great dude. He’s a great teammate. He’s special from that left side to have that power and finesse – whichever one he wants.”

In some respects, when Lester returned to the mound in 2007 following an offseason of chemo treatments, it might have seemed difficult to forecast his emergence into such a powerful presence on the mound, a pitcher who has made all of his starts for three straight seasons.

Yet after the 2007 campaign, when the Sox were contemplating whether to move the left-hander to the Twins in order to acquire Johan Santana, the team was convinced that Lester was capable of just such a development.

“When you look at the physical, fundamental and mental components of that, he is someone that projected at the time to be an elite type of pitcher,” recalled Farrell. “He has a very clean arm action. There are no stress points that are greater than or that spike up compared to a pitcher who has a lot of effort in his delivery, or who overworks to create mid-90s velocity. He doesn’t have that. So everything pointed to a long-term successful pitcher.”

Now, the question is how long Lester can remain such a pitcher. When Farrell was the head of player development for the Indians, prior to coming to the Sox as a pitching coach in 2007, Cleveland's studies about pitcher workloads yielded an interesting discovery about hurlers who logged three straight years of 200 or more innings.

After three straight years of such workloads, there appeared to be two paths divergent for pitchers. Either the toll of such innings would catch up with them and lead to increased injury risks in the fourth season, or the pitchers would emerge from those demands to become perennial innings-eaters for several more years.

"There are a lot of cases that show that into the fourth year, you've got to be conscious of the physical wear and tear of a given pitcher," said Farrell. "If you look back at the injury rates for pitchers who pitch three consecutive seasons of 200 innings, they spike up there quite a bit. Those who remain injury-free are often going for seven or eight years."

As such, the Sox will monitor Lester with great care in 2011, doing everything in their power to ensure that he represents one of the success stories. The team is optimistic that his delivery and powerful build make him an excellent candidate to remain, year after year, a pitcher who thrives with a substantial workload.

Lester's name will now -- or at least should now -- enter the mix with those of Hernandez and Sabathia and David Price and Buchholz and Jered Weaver for the title of the American League's best pitcher this year. And the Sox are confident that he can remain just such a hurler for the long haul.

"[His] delivery and arm action make him the type of pitcher that should realize the long-term durability. [He] does not show 'unusual' stress in his delivery," said Farrell. "He is an elite major league pitcher and should be for a long time."