Daily Notes, Largely Concerning Gio Gonzalez

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

1. Featured Game: Washington at Atlanta, 20:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Washington at Atlanta, 20:05 ET
Who You’re Watching When You’re Watching This Game
If and when you’re watching this game, you’re watching — in Washington left-hander Gio Gonzalez — the pitcher who currently has the highest strikeout rate (31.5%) and fifth-best SIERA (2.81) and third-highest WAR (2.0) among qualified pitchers.

What Might Be Surprising About That
What might be surprising about that — to the equally bespectacled and muscular reader — is how effective Gonzalez has been so far, given that his season-high strikeout rate entering 2012 was last year’s 24%.

A Question the Reader Might Be Asking
A question the reader might be asking is, “Is Gonzalez throwing anything different this year that would merit such an improvement?”

The Answer to that Question
The answer to that question is, “No, not really.” And continues: “Per PITCHf/x, Gonzalez is throwing the same pitches as in 2011 at basically the same rates. To wit: four-seam fastball, 38.2% (30.9% in 2011); two-seam fastball, 31.4% (34.1%); curveball, 20.0% (27.8%); changeup, 10.5% (7.2%).”

The Most Likely Explanations for Gonzalez’ Improvement
League change and/or randomness, probably.

A Brief Note on This Broadcast
This is the ESPN Sunday Night Game.

Another Note on This Broadcast
Because it’s the ESPN Sunday Night Game, this broadcast might not feature Atlanta’s usual and excellent center-field camera. An off-center camera angle would, unfortunately, distort the trajectory of the left-handed Gonzalez’s pitches.

Other Notable Games
Colorado at Cincinnati | 13:10 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Jamie Moyer starts for the Rockies. Here’s a Status Update on him: 48.2 IP, 14.7% IP K, 7.4% BB, 44.2% GB, 4.39 SIERA, 119 xFIP-, 111 FIP-, 0.5 WAR.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Neither, Sort Of.

Philadelphia at St. Louis | 14:15 ET
Roy Halladay (70.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR) and the Phillies’ nearly league-average offense (95 wRC+) faces Adam Wainwright (52.2 IP, 84 xFIP-, 0.6 WAR) and the Cardinals league-best offense (122 wRC+).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Philadelphia 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 4.7.

Regard, a magnificent and sortable table:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Jamie Moyer	COL	3	7	4	3	5	CIN	Mat Latos	13:10
Edinson Volquez	SD	4	4	6	1	10	NYN	R.A. Dickey	13:10
Matt Cain	SF	7	5	5	4	4	MIA	Ricky Nolasco	13:10
Matt Garza	CHN	6	3	5	1	6	PIT	Erik Bedard	13:35
Luke Hochevar	KC	5	6	4	5	3	BAL	Brian Matusz	13:35
Jeremy Hellickson	TB	3	6	3	5	1	BOS	Clay Buchholz	13:35
Ubaldo Jimenez	CLE	0	4	3	5	4	CHA	Gavin Floyd	14:10
Rick Porcello	DET	7	4	5	2	5	MIN	P.J. Walters	14:10
Roy Halladay	PHI	7	4	7	10	8	STL	Adam Wainwright	14:15
Kyle Drabek	TOR	3	6	5	10	6	TEX	Yu Darvish	15:05
Hiroki Kuroda	NYA	3	5	4	3	4	OAK	Tommy Milone	16:05
C.J. Wilson	LAA	4	3	4	5	3	SEA	Hector Noesi	16:10
J.A. Happ	HOU	5	6	5	6	5	LAN	Chris Capuano	16:10
Randy Wolf	MIL	1	7	4	5	6	AZ	Daniel Hudson*	16:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	9	4	7	7	5	ATL	Brandon Beachy	20:05

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.