NERD Game Scores: A Stately Pleasure-Dome in Toronto

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

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Most Highly Rated Game
Boston at Toronto | 12:37 ET
Rubby de la Rosa (44.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 0.6 WAR) faces Marcus Stroman (60.1 IP, 89 xFIP-, 1.4 WAR). So far as stately pleasure-domes are concerned, the one Kubla Khan decreed in Xanadu is obviously the most notable. It’s beyond dispute, this point. Tonight, however, Messrs. de la Rosa and Stroman conspire to render the Rogers Centre among those regarded as the next-most stately and pleasing. Cumulatively, the pair have thrown fewer than 200 career innings. Cumulatively, they’ve recorded an average fastball velocity of 94 mph this season. And, cumulatively, the two have produced a park-adjusted xFIP about 10% better than league average.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Actual News: Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez Recalled
Cleveland infield prospect and frequent occupant of a place within the author’s own Fringe Five column Jose Ramirez was recalled yesterday to the parent club and could receive considerable playing time should Asdrubal Cabrera (back) require a trip to the disabled list.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game hadn’t been announced as of press time, but can nevertheless be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

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Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and very sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and also the rest of the internet.

NERD Image 4

Away   SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time
Rubby de la Rosa BOS 8 3 8 6 9 TOR Marcus Stroman 12:37
Tim Hudson SF 5 6 6 3 7 PHI Cole Hamels 13:05
Colby Lewis TEX 3 4 6 2 10 NYA Bran. McCarthy 13:05
Scott Feldman HOU 1 8 5 7 7 OAK Jeff Samardzija 15:35
Hen’son Alvarez MIA 7 7 6 7 3 ATL Aaron Harang 19:10
Tyson Ross SD 8 4 6 5 5 CHN Edwin Jackson 20:05
Hector Noesi CHA 4 2 6 4 9 MIN Phil Hughes 20:10
Corey Kluber CLE 9 7 6 4 3 KC Danny Duffy 20:10
Dillon Gee NYN 4 2 4 6 4 MIL Matt Garza 20:10
Max Scherzer DET 7 4 7 6 9 LAA Garrett Richards 22:05
Wei-Yin Chen BAL 5 6 6 5 8 SEA Hisashi Iwakuma 22:10

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.

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Mr. Helper
11 years ago

The free game has been updated on MLB. It’s the Houston-Oakland game.