Hunter vs. the Sox

*Now that the Renner Roadrunners season has ended, I can return to bitching about Lew Ford and Ron Gardenhire.

Despite always putting up respectable numbers, Torii Hunter is often criticized for being 'not clutch' and its usually a valid criticism.
There's a stat that attempts to measure 'clutchiness' called WPA (Win Probability Added), and while its a flawed stat in some ways, it gives a decent indicator of who's been the best in tight situations this year.
Entering the week, Hunter was third to last on the team with a WPA of -155, ahead of only Rondell White and Carlos Silva.
(Joe Nathan led the team with a WPA of 414, followed by Justin Morneau, Francisco Liriano, Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Juan Rincon and Michael Cuddyer. By the way, I stole all this from aarongleeman.com)
But to make a short story long, Torii's WPA certainly shot up Friday night with his 3-run homer against the White Sox, which helped the Twins to a dramatic 5-4 win. Of Torii's 153 career homers, this was certainly one of the biggest, and it was easily his biggest play against the White Sox since he ran over catcher Jamie Burke a couple years ago.
It was Torii's 20th homer of the season, and his 4th in his last 5 games.
Torii's defense has been way, way under par for him this year (there is no way he should win the Gold Glove) but he's having probably the second best offensive season of his career, hitting .276 with noticeable improvement in his OBP (.348).
He's obviously very, very streaky, but right now he's on a hot streak, and he definitely has a histroy of punishing the White Sox.
*The fact that Brad Radke left after just two innings is a concern. He flew back to Minneapolis after the game to get another cortisone shot. That should help, but if there was any doubt that we're watching the last few starts of the Bradke era, they should be laid to rest by now.
The Twins need him, and he's as big a reason as any to root for them to make the postseason.
*Boof Bonser has had a couple good starts in a row, and I'm actually at the point where I feel better about Boof taking the mound than Carlos Silva. I also still think Scott Baker will be a quality ML starter, but right now Boof looks close to becoming a solid No. 4 starter.
*When the Twins put Liriano on the DL, I pretty much wrote him off for the season.
There's still a pretty good chance we won't see him until next spring, but I'll admit to being cautiously optimistic about what the team has been saying in regards to him. He says he feels better, the doctors say he's improving, and Gardy and Rick Anderson are talking about possibly breaking him in through the bullpen, which would be a good idea.
The fact that the Twins currently lead the wild card race with Liriano on the shelf and Radke pitching with a practically broken arm is remarkable.
*To make room for Rondell White, the Twins had to send Josh Rabe down to Triple-A. That wouldn't seem like a big deal, since Rabe will be called right back up when rosters expand Sept. 1, but the deadline for playoff rosters is Aug. 31, meaning Rabe is now ineligible for the playoff roster. I know Rondell's a veteran, but I'm not so sure I wouldn't rather see Rabe (.311/.340/.533) on the roster than White (.220/.248/.298).