NERD Game Scores for Friday, August 8, 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
San Francisco at Kansas City | 20:10 ET
Madison Bumgarner (154.0 IP, 83 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) faces Jason Vargas (129.1 IP, 106 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR). With Detroit’s 1-0 loss on Thursday (box), in conjunction with Kansas City’s 6-2 victory (box), that latter club now trails the former by only 2.5 games in the AL Central. The clubs’ proximity in the standings is perhaps exaggerated: the Tigers are projected to win 57% of their remaining games; the Royals, just 49%. Still, this represents one of Kansas City’s best opportunities to qualify for the postseason since Bret Saberhagen was a hairless youth.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Either San Francisco One.

Three Brief Notes
MLB Debut Alert: Jake Lamb
Young Arizona third baseman Jake Lamb, ranked sixth among D-backs prospects by Marc Hulet this preseason, made his major-league debut on Thursday. He recorded walk and strikeout rates of 11.5% and 22.4%, respectively, while also hitting 15 home runs, in 460 plate appearances between Double- and Triple-A.

Javier Baez Status Update
Here’s a status update on Cubs infield prospect Javier Baez:

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game hadn’t been announced before the author departed Buffalo this morning to take more terrible photos of ballparks from the interstate. When it is announced, it 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
Chris Archer	TB	6	5	5	4	4	CHN	Tsuyoshi Wada	16:05
Trevor Bauer	CLE	6	5	5	5	6	NYA	Esmil Rogers*	19:05
Bartolo Colon	NYN	6	2	3	2	2	PHI	A.J. Burnett	19:05
Ian Kennedy	SD	7	3	6	9	5	PIT	Vance Worley	19:05
J. Masterson	STL	5	8	6	7	2	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Anibal Sanchez	DET	6	5	6	6	10	TOR	R.A. Dickey	19:07
Nathan Eovaldi	MIA	8	4	5	4	6	CIN	Mike Leake	19:10
St. Strasburg	WAS	10	5	7	6	8	ATL	Ervin Santana	19:35
Rob. Hernandez	LAN	0	4	5	9	4	MIL	Kyle Lohse	20:10
Mad. Bumgarner	SF	9	9	7	6	4	KC	Jason Vargas	20:10
Miles Mikolas	TEX	4	3	4	5	3	HOU	Br. Oberholtzer	20:10
Tyler Matzek	COL	4	4	4	3	5	AZ	Chase Anderson	21:40
Allen Webster*	BOS	4	3	5	9	3	LAA	Jered Weaver	22:05
Kyle Gibson	MIN	4	3	5	6	7	OAK	Scott Kazmir	22:05
Jose Quintana	CHA	6	2	5	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.