Daily Notes: Of Time Past and Time Future, Mostly

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

1. Featured Game: New York AL at Boston, 12:35 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: New York AL at Boston, 12:35 ET
Regarding a Thing About This Game
A thing about this game is that — owing both to its early start time and also the semi-belated appearance of the present Notes — is that it’s probably beginning now, or just about to begin, even as you’re reading these words.

Regarding Another Possibility
Another possibility is that the game is maybe even over already — ended, in fact, some time ago — and the reader is fully aware of the result, but curious as to what his expectations might have been had he read these Notes earlier, and to what degree those expectations would have been borne out, or perhaps contradicted (if that’s a thing that can be done to expectations), by the actual game itself.

In the Event That That’s the Case
If that is the case — the thing about the game being over already — allow me to salute the Gentlereader of the Future. Allow me to commend, moreoever, his taste in baseballing internet sites.

Also, If That’s the Case
If that’s also the case, about the game being over, allow me to submit what was most notable about it for me, as a I prepared to watch it in a glorious and overstuffed leather armchair — namely, the prospect of left-hander Franklin Morales starting the game for Boston.

Regarding Franklin Morales, Starting Pitcher
Franklin Morales, who has failed to post even a league-average park-adjusted xFIP since 2007, has been excellent as a starter for Boston. To wit, his line through three starts: 18.0 IP, 71 TBF, 33.8% K, 4.2% BB, 50.0% GB, 2.28 xFIP.

Regarding Franklin Morales, Starting Pitcher, Part II
Of note, regarding Franklin Morales, Starting Pitcher: according to Texas Leaguers, his fastball has sat at about 94 mph in his three starts — or, roughly the same as what it was as a reliever. This, of course, is not generally the case for pitchers who move from the bullpen to the rotation.

Finally, A Point Regarding the Fenway Camera
Boston’s center-field camera is among the league’s best for observing a pitcher’s repertoire — and the movement and location of same. Morales hasn’t pitched in front of it yet, though, as a starter. (He did make a start at Fenway, but it was for a FOX Saturday broadcast, which utilizes the less excellent off-center angle.)

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Boston Radio (link).

Other Notable Games
Colorado at Washington | 16:05 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, over the last two weeks: 62 PA, 6.5% BB, 12.9% K, 5 HR, .310/.355/.655 (.289 BABIP), 167 wRC+, 0.8 WAR.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

Chicago NL at New York NL | 20:10 ET
Anthony Rizzo Status Update: 41 PA, 2.4% BB, 12.2% K, 4 HR, .375/.390/.750 (.355 BABIP), 195 wRC+, 0.6 WAR. His 4.9 weighted runs above average is the third-best such mark on the Cubs.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York Television.

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 5.0 exactly.

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
Phil Hughes	NYA	6	6	7	5	9	BOS	Frank. Morales*	12:35
Jeff Francis	COL	2	10	5	6	9	WAS	Gio Gonzalez	16:05
Bruce Chen	KC	4	5	5	4	8	DET	Doug Fister	16:05
Zack Greinke	MIL	9	7	5	5	5	HOU	Wan. Rodriguez	16:05
Ryan Vogelsong	SF	2	4	4	4	6	PIT	Jam. McDonald	16:05
Jeff Samardzija	CHN	10	1	7	2	8	NYN	Dillon Gee	16:10
Carlos Zambrano	MIA	2	3	3	9	4	STL	Kyle Lohse	16:10
Ricky Romero	TOR	3	8	5	6	5	CHA	Gavin Floyd	16:10
Matt Moore	TB	7	4	5	5	0	CLE	Ubaldo Jimenez	18:05
Tommy Hanson	ATL	4	8	6	6	8	PHI	Joe Blanton	19:15
Sam Deduno*	MIN	7	4	5	10	6	TEX	Derek Holland	19:15
Freddy Garcia*	NYA	5	6	6	5	7	BOS	Felix Doubront	19:15
Jason Hammel	BAL	8	2	5	5	4	LAA	Jered Weaver	22:05
Homer Bailey	CIN	5	3	4	5	4	SD	Clayton Richard	22:05
Chad Billingsley	LAN	6	2	5	6	5	AZ	Trevor Cahill	22:10
Jason Vargas	SEA	3	3	3	4	4	OAK	Jarrod Parker	22:10

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.