Bengie Molina has heard all the jokes over his 11-plus seasons in the majors.

Those jokes, of course, begin and end with the ability of the portly catcher – listed at 5-feet-11 and 225 pounds – to run the bases.

Well, on Friday night, Molina got the best kind of revenge. The catcher completed arguably the most improbable cycle in major league history when his triple off the glove of Eric Patterson leading off the eighth inning.

Molina, one of the nicest and most endearing figures in the game, admitted as much afterward but he did say the huge odds stacked against him made it that much sweeter.

“The cycle is something personal and some [type] of individual goal,” Molina said. “For being the guy that’s been criticized for his speed for 11 1/2 years in the big leagues and being the slowest guy in the world for many people so to something like is unbelievable.”

So with a smile, Molina was saying ‘take that!’ to all those who doubted him. But really what made it sweet was the winning, something he was all about when the Rangers acquired him before the All-Star break from San Francisco.

“Obviously, the winning makes it easier,” Molina said of starting for a team that leads the A.L. West. “I’m sure that’s a big part. Just winning makes you feel better. I came here to win. I didn’t come here to do anything else. It obviously makes you feel good.”

Still, everyone still in attendance was amazed that Molina had just done the improbable with the first cycle by an opponent at Fenway since Cleveland’s Andre Thornton on April 22, 1978.

“I would have put my head in a tree trimmer betting that he wouldn’t hit a triple,” said an astonished David Ortiz of the Red Sox. “That’s crazy, man. Seems to me he stopped at second to think about it. Now, I’m going to have to break that down to my son when I get home because he’s going to ask me a million questions about it.”

Unfortunately for Molina, he wound up paying the price one batter later when his right quad tightened up, forcing him from the game.

It was his manager Ron Washington who had to come out and get the big guy and pinch run for him after Molina waved to the dugout that something was up.

Washington knew going into the at-bat leading off the eighth that Molina had the hardest part left to complete the first cycle by a catcher since Milwaukee’s Chad Moeller on April 27, 2004 against Cincinnati. He had – just moments earlier – asked his third baseman Michael Young what or more to the point – WHERE he thought Molina had to put the ball for the triple.

“I had just mentioned to Michael, ‘Where do you think he has to hit this ball to get a triple?’ He said, ‘No where in this ball park.’”

Molina nearly blew a tire rounding second as Patterson raced to haul in the ball and get it back to the infield.

“I didn’t see any gears shift and he made it standing up,” Washington added.