NERD Game Scores for Saturday, May 16, 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
Washington at San Diego | 20:40 ET
Scherzer (49.2 IP, 77 xFIP-) vs. Cashner (44.0 IP, 87 xFIP-)
Over the first seven starts of his 2015 season, Washington right-hander Max Scherzer has produced roughly the same strikeout rate that he recorded over his three most recent years in Detroit while also somehow halving his walk rate. Neil Weinberg examined some potential explanations for this development on Friday for the electronic pages. As one might expect, it’s some combination of irresponsible and impossible to reach any firm conclusions on the matter. Here’re two notable and possibly related developments, however: Scherzer is (a) throwing his fastball more often and also (b) inducing more swings at pitches out of the zone. The reader is invited to look for evidence of these trends during Scherzer’s start this evening. Also, because it’s a Saturday in late May, the reader is also probably invited to a graduation party for a relative or family friend.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

Another Single Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Washington at San Diego, starts at 8:40pm 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
Alex Wood	ATL	7	3	5	5	5	MIA	Mat Latos	13:00
Alex Colome	TB	10	5	7	3	8	MIN	Trevor May	14:10
David Price	DET	5	5	6	5	7	STL	Tyler Lyons*	14:15
Gerrit Cole	PIT	10	6	8	6	7	CHN	Jon Lester	16:05
Archie Bradley	AZ	4	6	4	0	5	PHI	Jerome Williams	19:05
M. Shoemaker	LAA	6	5	5	5	3	BAL	Bud Norris	19:05
Matt Garza	MIL	4	3	5	5	8	NYN	Jacob deGrom	19:10
CC Sabathia	NYA	7	6	6	6	6	KC	Danny Duffy	19:10
Ry. Vogelsong	SF	4	3	5	5	6	CIN	Mike Leake	19:10
Marco Estrada*	TOR	4	8	6	10	6	HOU	Scott Feldman	19:10
Danny Salazar	CLE	10	7	6	3	4	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Max Scherzer	WAS	10	5	8	4	9	SD	Andrew Cashner	20:40
John Danks	CHA	4	1	4	6	6	OAK	Jesse Chavez	21:05
Rick Porcello	BOS	7	4	7	6	9	SEA	Felix Hernandez	21:10
Jo. de la Rosa	COL	8	3	7	9	6	LAN	Zack Greinke	21:10

* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.