NERD Game Scores for Friday, May 9, 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
St. Louis at Pittsburgh | 19:05 ET
Michael Wacha (42.1 IP, 82 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR) faces Francisco Liriano (37.2 IP, 98 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR). The former has improved upon both the (average-ish) zone and (above-average) swinging-strike rates he recorded last year in about a third of a season’s worth of starts. Of note with regard to Pittsburgh is the performance thus far of Pedro Alvarez. After four consecutive seasons of having recorded strikeout rates between 30% and 31%, the very powerful third baseman has posted just a 21.1% mark in a ca. 150 plate appearances — including walk and strikeout rates of 13.8% and 10.3%, respectively, over the past week.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: St. Louis Radio.

MLB.TV Free Game
Unknown at Unknown | ??:?? ET
Today’s free game hadn’t been announced as of the time at which the sloth-ridden author finished composing the present post. Updates may or may not follow, depending on the strength of said author’s weakness.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: .

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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Scott Feldman	HOU	0	6	3	3	5	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	19:05
Michael Wacha	STL	10	3	8	7	7	PIT	Francisco Liriano	19:05
Garrett Richards	LAA	7	10	5	6	0	TOR	Dustin McGowan	19:07
Phil Hughes	MIN	7	5	5	5	4	DET	Justin Verlander	19:08
Corey Kluber	CLE	8	4	6	7	4	TB	Jake Odorizzi	19:10
Jhoulys Chacin*	COL	4	10	7	4	9	CIN	Johnny Cueto	19:10
R. Hernandez	PHI	5	3	5	2	6	NYN	Jenrry Mejia	19:10
Jason Hammel	CHN	5	5	5	7	5	ATL	Julio Teheran	19:35
Clay Buchholz	BOS	3	2	4	3	5	TEX	Yu Darvish	20:05
Brandon McCarthy	AZ	9	5	6	3	3	CHA	Andre Rienzo*	20:10
Masahiro Tanaka	NYA	10	5	6	5	2	MIL	Yovani Gallardo	20:10
Doug Fister*	WAS	8	6	5	4	1	OAK	Tommy Milone	22:05
Jason Vargas	KC	3	3	4	4	5	SEA	Brandon Maurer*	22:10
Jose Fernandez	MIA	10	8	7	3	6	SD	Tyson Ross	22:10
M. Bumgarner	SF	7	7	4	5	0	LAN	Paul Maholm	22:10

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