NERD Game Scores for Friday, August 22, 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.

Most Highly Rated Game
Pittsburgh at Milwaukee | 20:10 ET
Jeff Locke (91.2 IP, 96 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR) faces Yovani Gallardo (154.2 IP, 96 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR). Owing to Pittsburgh’s recent series of losses, the identity of the NL Central champion this season appears to be a matter for Milwaukee and St. Louis to settle between themselves: indeed, as of Friday, there’s a ca. 95% chance that one of the latter two clubs will win the division. The Pirates’ postseason odds remain something better than immaterial, however — which is more than one can say of the author’s dignity, who just minutes ago exited the front door of his apartment holding a dog that was in the act of evacuating its bowels.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Season Debut: Logan Watkins
Cubs second-base prospect Logan Watkins made his season debut for that same club on Thursday as a pinch-hitter. While having recorded only modest numbers this season, Watkins produced an excellent 2012 campaign as a just a 22-year-old at Double-A, posting walk and strikeout rates of 12.9% and 16.5%, respectively, a line of .281/.383/.422, and a stolen base record of 28-for-35.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Miami at Colorado, starts at 8:40pm 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
Kevin Gausman	BAL	4	4	5	4	8	CHN	Jake Arrieta	14:20
John Danks	CHA	2	3	4	3	8	NYA	Shane Greene	19:05
Brad Peacock	HOU	3	4	5	4	8	CLE	Carlos Carrasco	19:05
Tim Hudson	SF	5	10	6	4	5	WAS	Doug Fister	19:05
Ad. Wainwright	STL	5	8	5	3	2	PHI	Kyle Kendrick	19:05
Drew Smyly	TB	5	4	5	4	8	TOR	Marcus Stroman	19:07
Mike Minor	ATL	5	7	4	2	3	CIN	Mat Latos	19:10
Felix Hernandez	SEA	10	6	5	3	3	BOS	Joe Kelly	19:10
Yordano Ventura	KC	9	10	7	3	4	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Robbie Ray	DET	0	9	4	3	2	MIN	Tommy Milone	20:10
Jeff Locke	PIT	7	6	7	10	4	MIL	Yovani Gallardo	20:10
Hen’son Alvarez	MIA	7	4	4	4	0	COL	Franklin Morales	20:40
Odris. Despaigne	SD	1	3	3	3	3	AZ	Josh Collmenter	21:40
Hector Santiago	LAA	2	7	6	8	7	OAK	Sonny Gray	22:05
Jon Niese	NYN	5	2	4	5	5	LAN	Dan Haren	22:10

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