Daily Notes: Feat. Analysis from the Author’s Unsporting Friend

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. Analysis from the Author’s Unsporting Friend
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Analysis from the Author’s Unsporting Friend
The author, as he writes this, is presently sitting across a breakfast table from a former grad-school companion — one (a) who is a very good and talented friend, but (b) whose knowledge of baseball appears entirely confined to the end of Ronald Reagan’s second term in office.

What follows is a small collection of that same friend’s thoughts on the game, in the order which they (i.e. those thoughts) appeared:

On the 1988 World Series
“I hope Kirk Gibson’s leg is alright.”

On Bill Buckner
“He came to my house, because his daughter was at my sister’s birthday party. He showed up; I didn’t meet him, though. That was my closest brush with fame.”

On Wade Boggs
“I remember his chicken cookbook. He had a dish called Chicken with Rice. There was a photo of him with Jim Rice. I thought that was funny. [Pause.] I still do.”

On Tom Glavine
“I remember being in Billerica, Massachusetts, at a card shop next to my uncle’s barber shop. I got a signature from Tom Glavine. He was there. [Pause.] Is he 70 now?”

On Jim Rice’s Son
“Jim Rice’s son — he had a son named Chauncey or something. He was supposed to be good. I wonder what became of him. I think I went to the same summer camp as him.”

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Kansas City at Detroit | 13:08 ET
Bruce Chen (72.1 IP, 116 xFIP-, 1.1 WAR) faces Max Scherzer (164.1 IP, 76 xFIP-, 5.0 WAR). Of note regarding the latter is this leaderboard of the top-five pitchers by WAR:

Rank Name Team IP K% BB% GB% xFIP- RA9-WAR WAR
1 Matt Harvey Mets 165.2 28.6% 4.9% 48.0% 68 5.7 5.7
2 Clayton Kershaw Dodgers 190.1 25.2% 5.5% 45.4% 78 7.3 5.3
3 Felix Hernandez Mariners 178.2 25.7% 5.4% 50.2% 68 5.5 5.3
4 Adam Wainwright Cardinals 182.2 22.6% 3.4% 49.9% 73 4.6 5.0
5 Max Scherzer Tigers 164.1 28.7% 6.0% 38.9% 76 5.0 5.0

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.7.

Note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away   SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time
Bruce Chen KC 3 7 6 7 9 DET Max Scherzer 13:08
M. Bumgarner SF 8 5 6 1 5 MIA Tom Koehler 13:10
Wade Miley AZ 6 3 6 7 7 PIT Charlie Morton 13:35
Jhoulys Chacin COL 5 7 5 9 3 BAL Scott Feldman 13:35
Ricky Nolasco LAN 5 3 5 0 8 PHI Cole Hamels 13:35
Gio Gonzalez WAS 7 3 7 8 7 ATL Julio Teheran 13:35
Todd Redmond TOR 5 6 6 10 5 TB Chris Archer 13:40
Hector Santiago CHA 4 2 3 3 3 MIN Samuel Deduno 14:10
Homer Bailey CIN 10 3 7 4 6 MIL Wily Peralta 14:10
A. Wainwright STL 9 3 6 5 5 CHN Edwin Jackson 14:20
Erasmo Ramirez SEA 8 4 8 3 10 TEX Yu Darvish 15:05
B. Oberholtzer HOU 3 4 4 8 3 LAA Jason Vargas 15:35
Scott Kazmir CLE 6 7 5 6 4 OAK Tommy Milone 16:05
Matt Harvey NYN 10 7 7 6 4 SD Eric Stults 16:10
CC Sabathia NYA 6 3 5 9 3 BOS Ryan Dempster 20:05

To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.





Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

13 Comments
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Nick
10 years ago

Any way NERD could account for the importsnce of a game to a division/wildcard race?

MikeS
10 years ago
Reply to  Nick

There used to be an adjustment based on playoff implications, but only for bubble teams. For instance, Atlanta would be penalized because their games do not have much playoff drama from their side since they are basically in.

mgoetze
10 years ago
Reply to  Nick

Or for the likelihood of an intentional HBP?