NERD Game Scores: David Price, Felix Hernandez Spectacular

August 16, 2014

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
Seattle at Detroit | 19:08 ET
Felix Hernandez (180.1 IP, 62 xFIP-, 6.2 WAR) faces David Price (185.1 IP, 71 xFIP-, 4.0 WAR). The former is the prohibitive favorite for this year’s Cy Young award, while the latter likely would be a reasonable candidate for that same distinction were Felix Hernandez not to exist. Their clubs, meanwhile, feature 26% and 58% odds, respectively, of qualifying for the divisional series. A “cavalcade of dramas,” then, is what this contest seems to be producing.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Home Run Watch
Cleveland prospect Zach Walters, acquired in the not very distant past from Washington in exchange for Asdrubal Cabrera, recorded his fifth home run of the season last night — this, in just 60 plate appearances. Here’s video footage of same:

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Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Kansas City at Minnesota, starts at 7:10pm ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

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. Note that the calculations both for team and game NERD scores have changed recently to better integrate playoff odds into same. Read more about those changes here, if you’re the sort of person accustomed to making poor life decisions.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Kyle Kendrick	PHI	2	2	4	7	5	SF	Tim Hudson	16:05
Shane Greene	NYA	7	3	5	5	5	TB	Drew Smyly	16:10
Ubaldo Jimenez	BAL	2	5	5	4	8	CLE	Carlos Carrasco	19:05
Jeff Locke	PIT	7	9	7	4	7	WAS	Gio Gonzalez	19:05
Felix Hernandez	SEA	10	7	9	9	10	DET	David Price	19:08
Wade Miley	AZ	8	3	5	4	7	MIA	Hen’son Alvarez	19:10
Dan Straily	CHN	5	3	3	2	4	NYN	Jon Niese	19:10
Brad Peacock	HOU	3	4	4	3	5	BOS	Rubby de la Rosa	19:10
Yordano Ventura	KC	10	10	8	3	9	MIN	Phil Hughes	19:10
Sonny Gray	OAK	6	7	7	6	7	ATL	Julio Teheran	19:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	4	4	3	2	2	CHA	John Danks	19:10
Jesse Hahn	SD	6	3	5	8	3	STL	Shelby Miller	19:15
Matt Shoemaker	LAA	9	8	6	3	3	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Dylan Axelrod*	CIN	4	3	4	4	4	COL	Jordan Lyles	20:10
Yovani Gallardo	MIL	4	10	7	4	10	LAN	Clayton Kershaw	21:10

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