Leftover thoughts following the Twins latest loss, this one 11-2 to the Red Sox.
* Josh Beckett told reporters he didn't want to go into his first-inning exchange with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson. You can argue that Beckett should have been tossed, since questioning ball-strike calls usually leads to an automatic ejection (as Denard Span can attest from last week's "That was a strike?" moment with Greg Gibson). But Johnson clearly had a longer fuse, at least in this case with a veteran pitcher.
* Nick Punto, in his first appearance at Target Field as a visiting player, got a pretty nice ovation when he went up to pinch hit for Kevin Youkilis in the eighth inning.
"It felt really good to be cheered like that," Punto said. "I didn't know what to expect. It just caught me off guard. I spent seven years here. That's a long time, and to have them show that type of appreciation, it really felt good.
* Rating the Twins concerns on a scale of 1-to-10, I'd put starting pitching at a 9 and their struggles with runners in scoring position at about a 3.
At last check, they ranked 15th out of 30 MLB teams with a .237 average with RISP. But over the past six games, it's .158.
Justin Morneau had three chances tonight. He drew a 10-pitch walk against Beckett in the first inning, forcing home a run, which was probably the high point of the night for the Twins. But he lined out softly to shortstop in the third inning and flied out to left field in the fifth.
Morneau is now 1-for-16 (.063) with RISP.
