MLB

Yankees closer Rivera happy to get out of spotlight

The only thing Mariano Rivera avoids more than blown saves is the spotlight. The unwilling hero — thrust into the limelight by his record-breaking 602nd save Monday — couldn’t wait to get back to business as usual yesterday . . . the business of helping guide the Yankees to a pennant.

“Thank God this thing is over. I have to move on, and get on to what we’re really here for, and that’s the pennant,” the closer said before the Yankees’ 5-0 win over the Rays in which he was not needed. “We have Tampa Bay a few more games. We have to concentrate on that and then move to the Red Sox and then back to Tampa. We have to do that and do a great job these [nine] games left.

“It won’t change. It’s nice, [but] now we have business to take care of. I don’t have time to be thinking of what happened. I thank God for that, but I have to move on.”

Longtime batterymate Jorge Posada said that kind of steadfast attitude is what got Posada the all-time saves record in the first place.

After breaking Trevor Hoffman’s mark, Rivera got a congratulatory text from the retired reliever, a call from the president of his homeland of Panama, and celebrated in understated fashion — at a Yankees function for retiring team trainer Gene Monahan. After that, he turned his attention to last night’s foe, Tampa Bay.

“The president on Panama called me. . . . It’s an honor and it’s a privilege for the president of Panama [to call] you, and wish you good luck and then thank you for everything, so it was good,” said Rivera, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning against Minnesota to surpass Hoffman’s mark.

“[Hoffman] sent me a text congratulating me, so it was nice of him. . . . I have so much tremendous respect for him, the way he takes care of himself, and the way he takes care of the game.”

Rivera literally had to be shoved back out onto the field Monday by Posada and Alex Rodriguez to bask in his richly deserved applause. And afterwards, instead of a nightclub he went to a low-key function for the team’s longtime trainer.

“Celebrate? No, we had something special for Geno, and I celebrated there. That was it, simple,” said Rivera, thankful he wasn’t the center of attention. “No, everybody was talking about Geno. That’s the most important thing.”

Posada — who was at Triple-A Columbus with Rivera, and broke into the majors with him the next year — isn’t surprised at his self-effacing friend’s attitude.

“He’s a class act, he’s always been, he always will be. He’s just a perfect example of what everybody should be doing,” said Posada.

Rivera, 41, broke Hoffman’s record with his 43rd save of the season. It is the seventh time since he became the full-time closer in 1997 that he recorded at least 43 saves.

“I’m very surprised he was able to do it this year. I thought next year he was going to be able to do it. It tells you how good he’s been, how consistent throughout his career. . . . I’m happy with everything both [Derek] Jeter and Mariano have done. Mo just keeps getting better and better. Age for him is not something [that stops him]. He’s really unbelievable.

“He’s unbelievably consistent. That’s what he does the best. He’s able to go out there and does his job better than anybody. He said it better than anybody, he wants to win ballgames and that’s all he cares about.”

brian.lewis@nypost.com