NERD Game Scores for Saturday, August 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
Los Angeles NL at Milwaukee | 19:10 ET
Zack Greinke (146.1 IP, 69 xFIP-, 2.9 WAR) faces Mike Fiers (7.0 IP, 139 xFIP-, 0.0 WAR). Following Milwaukee’s victory over the Dodgers last night (box), the club now possesses 45% odds of reaching the divisional series — closer to even than any other major-league team. Starting for the Brewers is Fiers, who has produced both excellent and less excellent major-league numbers in the past. His stats for Triple-A Nashville skew decidedly in the more excellent direction this year. To wit: 102.1 IP, 31.5% K, 4.2% BB.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.

A Single, Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the same Dodgers and Brewers discussed above, 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
Corey Kluber	CLE	10	4	7	5	10	NYA	Bran. McCarthy	13:05
Max Scherzer	DET	7	5	6	6	9	TOR	M. Stroman	13:07
John Lackey	STL	7	8	6	7	2	BAL	U. Jimenez	16:05
Jake Odorizzi	TB	7	5	5	4	5	CHN	Edwin Jackson	16:05
Dillon Gee	NYN	4	2	4	2	8	PHI	Cole Hamels	19:05
Eric Stults	SD	4	3	6	9	7	PIT	Francis. Liriano	19:05
Zack Greinke	LAN	9	4	7	10	6	MIL	Mike Fiers*	19:10
Brad Penny*	MIA	4	4	4	3	5	CIN	Alfredo Simon	19:10
Tim Hudson	SF	5	9	7	6	6	KC	James Shields	19:10
Yu Darvish	TEX	8	3	4	4	0	HOU	Scott Feldman	19:10
Tanner Roark	WAS	5	5	5	6	3	ATL	Aaron Harang	19:10
Jorge de la Rosa	COL	2	4	4	3	5	AZ	Trevor Cahill	20:10
Clay Buchholz	BOS	2	3	6	9	9	LAA	Gar’tt Richards	21:05
Trevor May*	MIN	5	3	5	5	7	OAK	Jeff Samardzija	21:05
Hector Noesi	CHA	3	2	4	5	9	SEA	James Paxton*	21:10

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