Boston’s come-from-behind victory over the Indians last night was probably the most satisfying win of the season, due mostly to positive contributions from unexpected quarters. Truthfully, I’d written the game off as a loss once Jon Lester got lifted in the fifth inning, because Westbrook was pitching decently, Betancourt was waiting in the wings, and we needed to hold the Tribe down with Julian Tavarez, who, quite honestly, inspires as much confidence as Hubert H. Humphrey these days.

And so, purely out of spite, Tavarez takes the hill and throws two-plus innings of quality relief, striking out four while allowing two hits, then gives way to Mike Timlin, who deals one inning of unblemished relief, which hasn’t happened in three years (or so it seems). Meanwhile, Betancourt gives up a solo shot to Youk leading off the 8th…and this after striking out Big Papi and Manny with the tying runs on base in the 7th inning. I mean, who saw that tater coming? Moreover, who could have foreseen the 9th-inning implosion by Cleveland closer Joe Borowski? Ya know, other than all of Ohio?

Still, down 4-3 on the road, with Julio Lugo, Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia coming to the plate, confidence was low: I repeat, confidence was low. With all due respect to Lugo, he bothers the hell out of me. I can say, unequivocally, that he’s my least favorite player on the Red Sox, at least until J.D. Drew pulls his vagina again. If Lugo’s not hoisting his poor excuse for a crotch, he’s kicking routine grounders, wearing ridiculous-looking turtleneck undershirts that scream “I’m cold, please get me a blankie!” or giving snide looks to the home plate umpire, even though Lugo’s command of the strike zone is on par with Jocko Conlan, who’s been dead for 19 years.

And so, purely out of spite, Lugo ropes a leadoff double in the 9th inning off Borowski, advances to third on a perfectly placed bunt by Coco Crisp, then somersaults home on Pedroia’s sacrifice fly to David Delucci, whose throw to the plate still hasn’t reached the cutoff man.

To cap it all off, Big Papi drops a seeing-eye single between Casey Blake and Delucci, then Manny Ramirez puts two in the forehead of Joe Borowski, who’ll probably get run out of Cleveland the same way Eric Gagne was run out of Boston last year. Which is to say that Borowski can expect a huge payday from a National League team in 2009.

The two-run bomb from Ramirez will be the headline-grabbing development from last night’s comeback victory in Cleveland, but the truth is, the team was given that opportunity (on which Ramirez rather expectedly delivered) via the unexpected contributions of Tavarez, Timlin and Lugo. Congratulations, gentlemen. Go take your awards from Charlton Heston’s cold dead hands.

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