NERD Game Scores for Friday, September 11, 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
Toronto at New York AL | 19:05 ET
Price (196.1 IP, 83 xFIP-) vs. Severino (35.1 IP, 94 xFIP-)
On account of how yesterday’s version of this same precise matchup — which was also that day’s most highly rated game — on account of how it was postponed, it follows that all of the remarks which appear in that edition of these scores remain relevant today. It’s a reflection of that repetition which humans must constantly endure, this postponement.
In conclusion, here is “Monday” by dead Italian polymath Primo Levi:
Is there anything sadder than a train
That leaves when it’s supposed to,
That has only one voice,
Only one route?
There’s nothing sadder.
Except perhaps a cart horse
Shut between two shafts
And unable even to look sideways.
Its whole life is walking.
And a man? Isn’t a man sad?
If he lives in solitude a long time,
If he believes time has run its course,
A man is a sad thing too.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features New York AL at Atlanta, starts at 19:35 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 adjustments here and here.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Arrieta | CHN | 9 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | PHI | Adam Morgan | 17:05 |
| Kyle Hendricks | CHN | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | PHI | Alec Asher* | TBD |
| Danny Duffy | KC | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | BAL | Mike Wright | 19:05 |
| Jimmy Nelson | MIL | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | PIT | Charlie Morton | 19:05 |
| David Price | TOR | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | NYA | Luis Severino | 19:05 |
| Wade Miley | BOS | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 10 | TB | Chris Archer | 19:10 |
| Justin Verlander | DET | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | CLE | Cody Anderson | 19:10 |
| John Lackey | STL | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | CIN | Michael Lorenzen | 19:10 |
| Gio Gonzalez | WAS | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | MIA | Jarred Cosart | 19:10 |
| Steven Matz | NYN | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | ATL | Matthew Wisler | 19:35 |
| Jesse Chavez | OAK | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 3 | TEX | Colby Lewis | 20:05 |
| Ervin Santana | MIN | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | CHA | Erik Johnson* | 20:10 |
| Alex Wood | LAN | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | AZ | Robbie Ray | 21:40 |
| Dallas Keuchel | HOU | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 2 | LAA | Jered Weaver | 22:05 |
| Chad Bettis | COL | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | SEA | Hisashi Iwakuma | 22:10 |
| And. Cashner | SD | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | SF | Jake Peavy | 22:15 |
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Why not simplify the ratings? How about a 0-2 scale for each team and pitcher. A zero for a team or pitcher would indicate no interest whatsoever (think the Milwuakee Brewers). A one would indicate a team or pitcher that has the potential to be interesting, whose value to the viewer could either be amplified or attenuated by the opposing team/pitcher (perhaps the Angels would qualify as a good 1 team, Nathan Eovaldi as a good 1 pitcher). Two would indicate a must-watch pitcher/team (Clayton Kershaw against the Blue Jays would be awesome). I don’t know how you could scale your current system to this 0-2 system, but I’d imagine that the percentage of 0’s 1’s and 2’s breaks down like 25%-65%-10%, give or take a few. Just an idea, what people find as interesting or must-watch varies.
Don’t be such a nerd about the NERD scores.
Surprised that the NYN team score is so low when there’s been a lot of press (and exciting games) lately surrounding the mets. (may have been brought up before, so forgive me).
are there searchable stats for all the components of NERD? would be interested as to what brings their score so low.
Clearly a distancy bias. Mets were number 1 in position player WAR in August and in September. .297/.371/.541 slash in September for a 151 wRC+, 11% higher than, shockingly, the Murderer’s Row Mariners!
Excuse me, I do not acknowledge May-July.
It may be iso is a heavy influence for team NERD scores. Astros, Yanks and Jays all 10s and have high ISOs. Mets are actually 6th in position player WAR this year, even with the bad run May-July. And 4th overall behind the Dodgers, Jays and Cards. But I’m just a touchy, butthurt Mets fan.
The NERD scores for teams makes a lot of sense to me from looking at the compelling drama in the standings.
Yankees & Jays in a 1.5 game race and Rangers & Astros are 2.5 game race for their divisions. Twins are 1 game back of the second wild card slot.
After that there’s really no reason to watch games outside of your favorite team.
Ah ha.
BOOM! GOES THE DYNAMITE
Carson explained at some point that NERD score would go down as playoff certainty went down. The Mets are good team but they’re not in a neck and neck playoff race like the Jays / Yankees.
Well, I’m sure glad Bob Dylan didn’t call the song “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Cart Horse to Cry.”
And nothing is sadder than the guy who walks up to a train and asks “why the long face?”.
Just neighing.
A Primo Levi poem cited by CC? In the context of Price vs. Severino in a game that really matters, I can only reply in true Jewish fashion:
“if not now, when?”
What do I have to do for a ten. Chris archer can lick my stache.
A very busy day indeed for the New York AL baseball club, if, as Cistulli claims, they are to play a concurrent doubleheader in their home city and also the city of Atlanta. One assumes that given the opportunity for September call-ups, they will be able to supply enough players to face both the Jays and the Barves simultaneously.