NERD Game Scores for Friday, September 5, 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 Detroit | 19:08 ET
Jake Peavy (171.1 IP, 111 xFIP-, 1.5 WAR) faces Rick Porcello (180.0 IP, 96 xFIP-, 3.0 WAR). Insofar as the two clubs here belong neither to the same division nor even the same actual league, one might suppose that the sense of urgency produced by this match is necessarily low-ish. What the numbers reveal, however, are two clubs among four total in the majors whose odds of reaching the divisional series remain within 20 points of 50%. To that end, then, really every match in which either is included offers much in the way of urgency. A more promising state of affairs, that, than for those of us who governed by the alternating forces of fear and depraved self-interest.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Televiion.
A Lone, Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Seattle at Texas, starts at 8:05pm 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vance Worley | PIT | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | CHN | Tsuyoshi Wada | 14:20 |
| Chris Sale | CHA | 10 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 | CLE | T.J. House | 19:05 |
| James Shields | KC | 6 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 8 | NYA | Michael Pineda | 19:05 |
| J’ome Williams | PHI | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | WAS | St. Strasburg | 19:05 |
| Jake Peavy | SF | 3 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 6 | DET | Rick Porcello | 19:08 |
| Aaron Harang | ATL | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | MIA | Jarred Cosart | 19:10 |
| Wei-Yin Chen | BAL | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | TB | Alex Cobb | 19:10 |
| Bartolo Colon | NYN | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | CIN | Alfredo Simon | 19:10 |
| Drew Hutchison | TOR | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | BOS | Allen Webster | 19:10 |
| Hisashi Iwakuma | SEA | 8 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 0 | TEX | Scott Baker | 20:05 |
| Matt Shoemaker | LAA | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | MIN | Ricky Nolasco | 20:10 |
| John Lackey | STL | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 | MIL | Mike Fiers | 20:10 |
| Eric Stults | SD | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | COL | Tyler Matzek | 20:40 |
| Br. Oberholtzer | HOU | 4 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 8 | OAK | Jeff Samardzija | 22:05 |
| Vidal Nuno | AZ | 5 | 3 | 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.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Why is House ranked so highly? As an Indians fan he’s interesting to me, but from a stats perspective, he hasn’t put up the kind of numbers (in the majors or minors) that I would think would make him appealing for the average fan.
He works pretty quickly. That might help him a bit.
These are the NERD game scores, not the average fan game scores.
It’s the beard.
His name is Tiger Junior. Well, not really, but that’s interesting.