NERD Game Scores for Monday, May 26, 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
New York AL at St. Louis | 16:15 ET
Chase Whitley (9.0 IP, 95 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR) faces Michael Wacha (60.1 IP, 81 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR). With regard to the latter, former and beloved contributor to these pages Mike Axisa — who, it should be said, knows from freaky — makes the following internet observation:

2013 Wacha vs. 2014 Wacha is kinda freaky: http://t.co/eHS1ODw1eM

— Mike Axisa (@mikeaxisa) May 25, 2014

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: St. Louis Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Regarding Buchholz, His Fastball Velocity
Boston right-hander Clay Buchholz produced an average fastball velocity of 90.2 mph over this first four starts. In his five most recent starts, that figure is over a mph faster. His xFIP over those first four starts: 3.44. His xFIP since: quite worse, actually.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game hadn’t been announced as of press time, but 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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Clay Buchholz	BOS	3	2	5	7	8	ATL	Ervin Santana	13:10
Bran. Cumpton*	PIT	6	7	6	3	7	NYN	Jacob Degrom*	13:10
Nathan Eovaldi	MIA	9	9	7	6	4	WAS	Tanner Roark	13:35
Chris Tillman	BAL	3	4	4	5	5	MIL	Kyle Lohse	14:10
Josh Tomlin*	CLE	5	5	5	3	6	CHA	Jose Quintana	14:10
Nick Tepesch*	TEX	6	2	3	4	0	MIN	Kevin Correia	14:10
Jeff Samardzija	CHN	6	5	6	6	6	SF	Yusmeiro Petit*	16:05
Drew Smyly	DET	5	5	4	5	1	OAK	Tommy Milone	16:05
Tyler Skaggs	LAA	6	9	4	4	0	SEA	Chris Young	16:10
Chase Whitley*	NYA	8	5	8	3	10	STL	Michael Wacha	16:15
Jhoulys Chacin	COL	1	8	2	2	2	PHI	Kyle Kendrick	17:05
Erik Bedard	TB	0	5	4	7	7	TOR	Drew Hutchison	19:07
Johnny Cueto	CIN	9	3	7	6	6	LAN	Hyun-Jin Ryu	20:10
Scott Feldman	HOU	1	7	5	3	10	KC	Yordano Ventura	20:10
Tyson Ross	SD	7	6	7	5	9	AZ	Brandon McCarthy	20:10

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