Daily Notes, With a Table Concerning Yu Darvish
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Featured Game: Oakland at Texas, 20:05 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Featured Game: Oakland at Texas, 20:05 ET
With Regard to Japanese Sensation Yu Darvish
With regard to Japanese sensation Yu Darvish, who starts tonight for Texas, here’s his line so far this season: 44.1 IP, 25.9% K, 12.2% BB, 47.0% GB, 3.64 SIERA, 88 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR.
Regarding Darvish’s Line So Far, What’s Notable
What’s notable about Darvish’s line so far this season is the degree to which it’s improved since his first three starts. Consider this table, for instance:
| Starts | IP | K% | BB% | GB% | xFIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First 3 | 17.2 | 16.3% | 15.0% | 42.1% | 4.89 |
| Last 4 | 26.2 | 33.3% | 10.0% | 51.7% | 2.29 |
A Thing That Was Useful in the Manufacture of That Table
A thing that was useful in the manufacture of that table was the updated game-logs page added to the site on Tuesday by FanGraphs founder and darkest of overlords David Appelman.
Another Thing That Was Useful in the Manufacture of That Table
Another thing that was useful in the manufacture of that table was the Guts page (which contains the FIP constant, for example) that was added to the site towards the end of April — also by my handsome and virile employer David Appelman.
Why the Author Mentioned Those Recent Additions to the Site
As a service to the public, one imagines.
Why Else the Author Mentioned Those Additions
To greater promote his own “job security,” one imagines.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Oakland Television (link).
Other Notable Games
Seattle at Cleveland | 19:05 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Felix Hernandez starts for Seattle. Here’s a thing that’s largely unchanged for Hernandez so far this year (in 59.0 IP) relative to recent seasons: his strikeout and walk rates (24.8% and 6.8 %, respectively). Here’s a thing that has changed, but only slightly: his ground-ball rate (47.7% this season, after sitting in the low-to-mid 50s for most of his career). Here’s a thing that’s continued to change: his average fastball velocity (91.6 mph this season, 93.4 mph in 2011, 94.4 mph in 2010). Here’s what has changed dramatically: his changeup usage (currently 37.9%, 22.0% in 2011, 16.2% in 2010, 5.3% in 2009).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Seattle.
Baltimore at Kansas City | 20:10 ET
Felipe Paulino makes his third start of the season for the Royals. His line so far: 11.2 IP, 25.5% K, 6.4% BB, 43.8% GB, 3.03 SIERA, 75 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR. He faces a Baltimore team ranked eighth in batter/fielder WAR as of Monday.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Baltimore.
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 4.8.
Regard, a magnificent and sortable table:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Capuano | LAN | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | SD | Clayton Richard | 18:35 |
| Nick Blackburn | MIN | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 7 | DET | Rick Porcello | 19:05 |
| Erik Bedard | PIT | 6 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 | WAS | Gio Gonzalez | 19:05 |
| Felix Hernandez | SEA | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | CLE | Ubaldo Jimenez | 19:05 | |
| Hiroki Kuroda | NYA | 3 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | TOR | Kyle Drabek | 19:07 |
| Clay Buchholz | BOS | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 | TB | Jer. Hellickson | 19:10 |
| Mike Leake | CIN | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 | NYN | Johan Santana | 19:10 |
| Mark Buehrle | MIA | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 7 | ATL | Mike Minor | 19:10 |
| Randy Wolf | MIL | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | HOU | Bud Norris | 20:05 |
| Tommy Milone | OAK | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 7 | TEX | Yu Darvish | 20:05 |
| Vance Worley | PHI | 7 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | CHN | Matt Garza | 20:05 |
| Tommy Hunter | BAL | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | KC | Felipe Paulino* | 20:10 |
| Patrick Corbin* | AZ | 6 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3 | COL | Jamie Moyer | 20:40 |
| Gavin Floyd | CHA | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | LAA | Jerome Williams | 22:05 |
| Jaime Garcia | STL | 5 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 5 | SF | Mad. Bumgarner | 22:15 |
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.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Cistulli, fix the CSS on these tables.
Looks fine to me, save Ubaldo’s missing NERD score (which, frankly, may have been intentional. I’m not sure how NERD handles negative numbers).
Baseball fan A: “Hey, want to watch Darvish pitch tonight?”
Baseball fan B: “And miss Felipe Paulino???”
didn’t you see the *asterisk below the table?
” *= Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.”
I’m not sure how handsome the author is, but for me, I’ve seen Darvish pitch, I’m pretty sure he’s good. I need to know if I should put Paulino on the end of my bench.
The previous 350 or so innings of Felipe Paulino should probably have answered that question by now.
Has Ubaldo been such a disappointment that he broke the chart?
Kyle Kendrick pitches for the Phillies tonight.
Maybe if you try to enter Ubaldo-related numbers in a table, they’re diverted into regions unknown, like the fastballs that Ubaldo tries to throw over the plate.
“The listener” may have to challenge Dayn Perry’s assertion that Mr. Cistulli is a freedom hating non-supporter of our troops in light of the blithe disregard with which he assigned a mere seven NERD points to a Japanese-Iranian mongrel. This score clearly reflects his feelings about U.S. foes past and future rather than the aesthetic quality of a bonafide pitching savant. Garden variety jingoist or closet racist? You decide.
Crafty Felix does not have the same ring to it.