Daily Notes: Largely a Panegyric to Max Scherzer

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

1. Featured Game: Detroit at Baltimore, 16:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Detroit at Baltimore, 16:05 ET
A Thing the Reader Might Notice
A thing the reader might notice is that, while the Mets-Braves game has actually received tonight’s highest NERD score — NERD being the infallible metric by which the watchability of a game is adjudged infallibly — that the author has bestowed upon this contest the title of Featured Game.

Regarding the Author’s Actions, How He Justifies Them
The author, everyone should know, has taken what is frequently referred to — or, at least, was frequently referred to, at the height of W.C. Fields’ career — has taken what’s known as “a shine” to tonight’s starter for Detroit, right-hander Max Scherzer.

Why the Author Would Do That Type of Thing
It’s possible that the author would take some interest in Scherzer, owing to how he (i.e. Max Scherzer) has posted a 4.72 ERA but only a 3.72 FIP and only a 3.28 xFIP and then only a 3.08 SIERA — that last figure representing the fourth-best such mark among the league’s 97 qualified starters.

Why the Author Would Do That Type of Thing, Part II
It’s also possible that the author would take some interest in Scherzer, owing to how the latter features the game’s sixth-highest fastball velocity among qualified starters — which (i.e. fastball velocity), in case you didn’t know, is a well-known Source of Amusement and Wonder.

Why the Author Would Do That Type of Thing, Finally
The author, finally, would derive some pleasure in the person of Max Scherzer, owing to how the latter appears to possess a considerable — and what the unenlightened might refer to as “crippling” — sense of self-awareness, as suggested by his interview with David Laurila at the end of May and suggested by other extant profiles of him.

Video from Scherzer’s Most Recent Start
Here’s video from Scherzer’s most recent start, against Kansas City on July 8th. Note the fastballs he throws. And the changeups and slider, too, I suppose.

Broadcast Information
It has come to the attention of the author that this is a FOX Saturday game.

Other Notable Games
Cleveland at Toronto | 13:07 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
The Blue Jays, on Thursday, signed the quite productive Edwin Encarnacion to a three-year, $29 million extension. In a burst of bright and shining Instanalysis, Jackie Moore considered the implications of the deal.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or Toronto Radio.

New York NL at Atlanta | 16:05 ET
Soft-spoken gentleman R.A. Dickey (120.0 IP, 73 xFIP-, 3.2 WAR) makes his first start of the second half — in front of Atlanta’s excellent center-field camera. (Although, on account of this is a FOX broadcast, there’s a chance that said excellent center-field camera will not be utilized.)

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: As noted, this is also a FOX broadcast.

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 4.9.

Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Jerome Williams	LAA	5	5	5	7	5	NYA	Freddy Garcia	13:05
Joe Saunders	AZ	2	6	3	1	6	CHN	Ryan Dempster	13:05
Ubaldo Jimenez	CLE	0	5	4	8	5	TOR	Aaron Laffey*	13:07
Max Scherzer	DET	10	5	7	1	4	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	16:05
R.A. Dickey	NYN	10	2	8	8	5	ATL	Tommy Hanson	16:05
Kyle Lohse	STL	4	9	6	4	7	CIN	Mike Leake	16:05
Clay Buchholz	BOS	3	5	7	4	9	TB	David Price	19:10
Jake Peavy	CHA	5	5	4	5	5	KC	Luke Hochevar	19:10
Tommy Milone	OAK	5	4	3	3	3	MIN	Cole DeVries	19:10
Kevin Correia	PIT	1	4	4	7	8	MIL	Marco Estrada	19:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	9	6	5	3	4	MIA	Mark Buehrle	19:10
Vance Worley	PHI	6	5	3	10	1	COL	Jeremy Guthrie	20:10
Lucas Harrell	HOU	5	5	5	4	7	SF	Tim Lincecum	21:05
Edinson Volquez	SD	4	5	3	2	2	LAN	Aaron Harang	21:10
Yu Darvish	TEX	8	9	6	3	8	SEA	Felix Hernandez	21:10

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