The first month of the season is over.

And things couldn’t have gone much smoother for the Boston Red Sox.

The starting pitching has been every bit as good as advertised, maybe even better than expected in the case of Tim Wakefield. Even Julian Tavarez has thrown a couple of decent games as he keeps the spot warm for Jon Lester.

The offense, even without much from Manny Ramirez, has been producing better than a lineup that generally features a struggling bottom of the order could hope to produce.

At the end of the games, meanwhile, there has been the one dominant force that makes Boston one of the game’s best teams, lights-out closer Jonathan Papelbon, the type of pitcher who, given health, can be the biggest factor in bringing another world championship to Boston.

Maybe this is getting a little ahead of things. It’s not as if the playoffs are right around the corner. The Red Sox, after all, have played only 24 games.

But they have the league’s best record, and, as they enjoyed a day off yesterday in preparation for a three-game homestand that begins with a game against Oakland tonight, they are a confident bunch.

Helping to fuel the Red Sox’ confidence is not only a 5-1 record against the rival New York Yankees, but also satisfaction in how they are getting things done.

“We’re playing good baseball, making a statement that we play solid games to get the ‘W’s.’ We’re not doing anything fancy. We’re doing little things. We’re getting guys over, getting the lead and turning the game over to our bullpen,” said utility infielder Alex Cora, who has been a pleasant offensive surprise spelling Dustin Pedroia at second and Julio Lugo at shortstop.

There have been games when the Red Sox have hit home runs. There have been games when they have even dropped down back-to-back bunts for base hits. They have stolen some bases. They have had speed to take the extra base.

There have been different heroes on different nights. Even the human strikeout machine, Wily Mo Pena, won a game with a titanic grand slam.

One important constant, though, has been the rotation. Boston’s starters are averaging more than six innings a start, which is almost unheard of in this day of the barely six-inning starters sprinkled through the majors.

The Yanks’ starters are averaging less than five innings per outing, no small reason New York is only 9-14 this year, wallowing in last place in the American League East.

“First and foremost, we have to continue to pitch well,” said catcher and team captain Jason Varitek. “Pitching and playing good defense are the keys to this game. We’ve done some things real well, and I think we’ve had some things that we can improve on. But you have to pitch well every day to beat these teams.”

It’s not as if there aren’t some trouble spots waiting to erupt on the horizon.

Outside of Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, for instance, Francona does not have anyone else he can bring in from the bullpen without having to cross his fingers after making a pitching change.

Of course, that leaves Francona in the same boat as virtually every other manager in the big leagues. But, so far, the Red Sox have been able to stay away from the more problematic areas of their bullpen (Joel Pineiro, J.C. Romero, Brendan Donnelly, Mike Timlin) in tense situations because the starters have been consistent and the offense has been able to spread out leads, lessening the pressure on the setup men.

But there may have been one other sign during Sunday’s 7-4 victory in Yankee Stadium that the Red Sox are about to become even more dangerous at the plate.

Manny Ramirez has been swinging the bat better, as evidenced by two drives to right-center in Yankee Stadium on Sunday, one of which was caught by Bobby Abreu banging up against the wall and the other one that sailed out of the ballpark for a two-run homer in the eighth. He also had a single.

Ramirez’s average may be only .202, but don’t think for a moment that opposing pitchers are going to walk David Ortiz intentionally to get to Manny.

“If we can get him hot, or when we get him hot, that will be really good for us,” said Francona in a major bit of understatement.

“Manny seems like he’s going to start hitting, and then we’ll be really good,” chimed in third baseman Mike Lowell.

The Sox, though, know that this is not the time to get too far ahead of themselves.

“That’s one month, five to go,” cautioned Varitek.

But then he smiled.

“Maybe six,” he said.

The extra month, of course, is October, when the playoffs are staged. And the Red Sox certainly have given every indication in the first month that they’ll be back in the postseason this year.

skrasner@projo.com