1. It was hard to watch Johan Santana on Monday against the Red Sox and not be impressed. He worked four shutout innings and earned it. His stuff was exquisite 90-92 mph fastball, that impossible to read changeup. He has terrific pace, one pitch after another, no hesitation. He even showed his cat quickness by knocking down a liner by Alex Cora over his head ticketed for center and turning it into an out. But what was most notable was Santana’s location. I counted just four times in 51 pitches that Brian Schneider had to move his mitt more than an inch or two. Santana had precision to both sides of the plate with both fastball and change. It was impeccable. It was impressive.

2. Also as impressive was Jon Lester. The cancer survivor has presence on the mound and excellent stuff, highlighted by his lively 93-95 mph fastball. The big issue for him is control, and it was superb against the Mets. If he has control, he is no worse than a No. 3 starter with his stuff, which is important for the Red Sox with Curt Schilling possibly out for the year.

3. Lester was part of a package that Boston offered Minnesota for Santana. Another package offer was fronted by Jacoby Ellsbury.

“We were legitimately interested and were willing to pay a legitimate price,” Boston GM Theo Epstein said. “We thought we were close (to completing a deal) a couple of times. Despite reports, we never pulled out. They thought the Met offer was better, and they (the Twins) are great evaluators.”

Epstein said he would not meet Minnesota’s requirements – putting Lester and Ellsbury in one package – because “it was a whole generation of young players that I think will make an impact for us. I thought (making that deal) would have leave us worse off.”

Boston manager Terry Francona said of not making the trade, “We love our young kids. We are absolutely in love with them. Sometimes you can overvalue your young kids. But we don’t think we have.”

Francona said his ace, Josh Beckett, was “pretty sore” Monday morning as he tries to recover from back spasms. He said no final decision has been made about keeping Beckett from making the trip next week to Japan to pitch the regular-season opener against the A’s. But he made it sound that way by saying, “We need to make good decisions and not react to the schedule.”