NERD Game Scores for Monday, August 31, 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
Cleveland at Toronto | 19:07 ET
Salazar (144.1 IP, 82 xFIP-) vs. Price (182.1 IP, 84 xFIP-)
If one accepts the principle that the most compelling sort of baseball games — especially in late August or early September — are those which offer the greatest implications for the postseason, then one is likely to find him- or herself drawn either to the Blue Jays or Yankees for the time being, which clubs are separated by merely 1.5 games in the AL East. If one’s choices are dictated more strongly by another sort of principle, however, then it’s impossible to say which contest, if any, he or she might prefer. This is, of course, the damning reality facing any attempt to rate games based on their aesthetic appeal. “So why even bother attempting it?” one might ask. To which question I reply: “The awful inertia of any human endeavor.”
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.
Two Brief Notes
Largely Trivial Nathan Eovaldi Fastball-Splitter Ratio Update
As noted in yesterday’s edition of this same dumb thing, Yankees right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has begun throwing a splitter with considerable frequency, actually recording a fastball:spliter ratio of lower than 1.0 (42 fastballs vs. 49 splitters) last Monday against Houston. Yesterday in Atlanta, Eovaldi’s pitch mix was slightly more traditional: according to the PITCHf/x data, he seems to have recorded 55 fastballs versus only 24 splitters.
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Washington at St. Louis, starts at 20;15 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Archer | TB | 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | BAL | Wei-Yin Chen | 19:05 |
| Danny Salazar | CLE | 10 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 7 | TOR | David Price | 19:07 |
| Chris Narveson* | MIA | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | ATL | Mike Foltynewicz | 19:10 |
| Ivan Nova | NYA | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 7 | BOS | Ed. Rodriguez | 19:10 |
| Jerad Eickhoff | PHI | 7 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | NYN | Bartolo Colon | 19:10 |
| Mi. Lorenzen | CIN | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | CHN | Kyle Hendricks | 20:05 |
| Vidal Nuno | SEA | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOU | Dallas Keuchel | 20:10 |
| Gio Gonzalez | WAS | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | STL | John Lackey | 20:15 |
| Robbie Ray | AZ | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | COL | Chad Bettis | 20:40 |
| Hector Santiago | LAA | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | OAK | Felix Doubront | 22:05 |
| Jake Peavy | SF | 2 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | LAN | Brett Anderson | 22:10 |
| Colby Lewis | TEX | 3 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 8 | SD | Tyson Ross | 22:10 |
* = 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.
The Astros are second in the majors in HR despite not having a player who has hit more than 22 this year. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, are first in HR (by eight) and have three players who have hit more than 30.