BOSTON — Maybe it was symbolic. Maybe it’s jumping the gun a little bit.

But in back-to-back games at Fenway Park this weekend, it isn’t outrageous to suggest that a changing of the guard at the top of the closer heap is taking place.

On Friday night, the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, long the gold standard for closers in the majors, blew a save against the Red Sox, his cutter on this night nowhere near as sharp as it has been throughout his stellar career.

That blown save followed one last Sunday in Oakland, when a light-hitting infielder named Marco Scutaro beat him with a walk off three-run homer off Rivera, now 37 years old and with a lot of games and two-inning saves in the regular season and postseason on his long, glorious resumé.

Yesterday, Boston’s flame-throwing closer, Jonathan Papelbon, 26, was called on to save a victory against New York. And with one minor blip — a one-out walk — the right-hander blew away the top of the Yanks’ order in nailing down yet another dominant save.

Papelbon threw 19 pitches, of which 17 were fastballs. Of those 17 fastballs, 6 sizzled to the plate at 97 mph; 8 at 96; 2 at 95 and the other one was a mundane 93.

See ya, Johnny Damon (weak grounder to short). And, after a walk to Melky Cabrera, it was bye-bye to Derek Jeter (strikeout on a foul tip) and Bobby Abreu (fly to center).

The next Mariano Rivera?

“Oh, I don’t see myself as the next Mariano,” said Papelbon after yesterday’s 7-5 victory over the Yanks, leaving the Red Sox a solid Daisuke Matsuzaka outing away from a sweep tonight.

“I’m just trying to be the first Papelbon. I’m not going to try to be somebody I’m not,” said Papelbon. Closing. This is what Papelbon wanted all along.

This is what he wanted when he reported to spring training, itching to return to the closer’s role even if the Red Sox wanted to try to protect his shoulder by projecting him for the starting rotation.

This is why, seeing no one else on the staff stepping up to claim the role in camp, he fairly begged to be restored to the role. And he is showing again this month why he is among the elite closers in the game. He has the mentality. He has the makeup.

“Go back and look at Goose Gossage,” said veteran Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin, himself a closer at times in his 17-year big-league career.

“I don’t know about Goose’s mentality, but they seem to have the same mentality — hard-nosed and they come right at you. ‘Here it is, you’ve got to come hit it.’ Pap’s got a young, live arm. I love it,” said Timlin.

Obviously, there’s a sense of calm that comes over the Sox when they see Papelbon enter the game. It means Boston is ahead, and it generally means Boston will win.

“It’s not a done deal, but it’s pretty much a done deal,” said Alex Cora. “The way he focuses. The way he works at it, he does what he’s supposed to do. You [as a team] feel pretty good about it.”

Cora, though, says he’s not quite ready to put Papelbon and Rivera in the same class.

“When you talk about the great closers you talk about Mo because of what he has done in the postseason (34 saves, most all-time). Hopefully Jonathan gets to the postseason this year and does what Mariano has done there. That’s when you can start talking that way. Jonathan’s a great closer, but what Mariano has done in the postseason, with a lot of two-inning saves, is amazing,” said Cora.

Yesterday Papelbon, working for the third time in the last four games, was pure power. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder has a devastating splitter, and he also throws a slider. But his game is all about the heater and the batter-pitcher confrontation.

Papelbon, for now, is satisfied that his fastball is good enough, throwing the other pitches just enough to let the batter know something else might be coming. In his career, Rivera, for the most part, has thrown cutter after cutter.

“I think my fastball’s good enough that if I locate it up and down, in and out, I don’t need a secondary pitch,” said Papelbon.

skrasner@projo.com