NERD Game Scores for Friday, May 1, 2015

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
Arizona at Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
de la Rosa (25.0 IP, 84 xFIP-) vs. Frias (2.1 IP, 101 xFIP-)
Through four starts, right-hander Rubby de la Rosa has produced a strikeout- and walk-rate differential (18.9 points) roughly twice of what his career mark was entering the season. One possible reason for that: awful and inexplicable chance. Another possible reason, though: de la Rosa has reduced his fastball usage by about 10 percentage points while also increasing his changeup usage by roughly that same amount. He’s even thrown the latter pitch a quarter of the time to same-handed batters. With regard to Dodgers starter Carlos Frias, he throws hard and possesses above-average control — which profile suggests he might become the next Garrett Richards (who previously was a candidate to become the next Michael Pineda).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles NL Television.

Two Brief Notes
Debut Alert
The purpose of this brief entry is to note that right-handed Atlanta prospect Mike Foltynewicz is expected to make his first major-league start for that same club at 7:35pm ET against Cincinnati. Following a trade from Houston this offseason, Foltynewicz was ranked fifth among that latter club’s prospects by Kiley McDaniel and 69th among all prospects. Most notable with regard to the 23-year-old is his fastball, which sits at 95-98 mph even in a starting capacity. Command has been an issue, however: has produced almost precisely a 10% walk rate as a minor leaguer.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Philadelphia at Miami, 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
Wily Peralta	MIL	5	2	6	6	9	CHN	Jon Lester	14:20
Alex Colome*	TB	6	5	4	6	2	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
CC Sabathia	NYA	8	6	7	5	6	BOS	Justin Masterson	19:10
Jerome Williams	PHI	6	1	4	5	2	MIA	Tom Koehler	19:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	5	7	7	6	10	CLE	Carlos Carrasco	19:10
Max Scherzer	WAS	9	5	8	7	10	NYN	Matt Harvey	19:10
Ant. DeSclafani	CIN	8	5	8	4	10	ATL	M. Foltynewicz*	19:35
Scott Kazmir	OAK	8	5	5	3	3	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Jose Quintana	CHA	5	1	2	1	1	MIN	Kyle Gibson	20:10
Kyle Lobstein	DET	4	5	5	7	5	KC	Chris Young*	20:10
Roenis Elias*	SEA	5	5	5	10	4	HOU	Samuel Deduno*	20:10
A.J. Burnett	PIT	5	7	6	5	7	STL	Lance Lynn	20:15
Rubby de la Rosa	AZ	10	6	9	8	9	LAN	Carlos Frias*	22:10
Eddie Butler	COL	3	4	4	3	4	SD	Ian Kennedy*	22:10
C.J. Wilson	LAA	3	5	5	4	7	SF	Chris Heston	22:15

* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.