NERD Game Scores for Saturday, May 2, 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.

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Most Highly Rated Game
Seattle at Houston | 19:10 ET
Walker (19.2 IP, 120 xFIP-) vs. McHugh (24.2 IP, 70 xFIP-)
By the certainly flawed metric devised by the author, no club has been more aesthetically pleasing/mostly effective than the Houston Astros. Despite having recorded the third-lowest average batter age over the first month of the season, Houston has produced a modestly above-average batting line and decidedly above-average marks — which is to say, z-scores greater than 1.0 relative to the league’s 30 teams — by the following measures: park-adjusted home-run rate, baserunning runs, and park-adjusted bullpen xFIP. Four Houston players have already posted a 1.0-plus WAR thus far this season: Jose Altuve (1.4 WAR), Jake Marisnick (1.3), Jed Lowrie (1.0), and tonight’s starter Collin McHugh (1.0).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Seattle Radio, Maybe.

A Single, Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Pittsburgh at St. Louis, starts at 2:15pm 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
Nathan Eovaldi	NYA	10	6	6	5	2	BOS	Wade Miley	13:35
Hector Noesi	CHA	4	1	4	2	5	MIN	Ricky Nolasco*	14:10
Francisco Liriano	PIT	8	7	7	6	7	STL	John Lackey	14:15
Mike Fiers	MIL	5	2	6	6	8	CHN	Jake Arrieta	14:20
Hector Santiago	LAA	3	4	4	4	4	SF	Tim Hudson	16:05
Cole Hamels	PHI	6	1	4	5	3	MIA	Dan Haren	16:10
Aaron Sanchez	TOR	6	7	8	6	10	CLE	Corey Kluber	16:10
Chris Archer	TB	10	5	7	6	5	BAL	Miguel Gonzalez	19:05
Jason Marquis	CIN	8	6	6	3	4	ATL	Eric Stults	19:10
David Price	DET	6	5	7	7	8	KC	Edinson Volquez	19:10
Taijuan Walker	SEA	8	5	8	10	8	HOU	Collin McHugh	19:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	7	5	6	6	5	NYN	Jon Niese	19:10
Drew Pomeranz	OAK	7	6	5	3	4	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Jorge de la Rosa*	COL	7	4	6	3	7	SD	Brandon Morrow	20:40
Jer. Hellickson	AZ	4	6	5	8	5	LAN	Scott Baker*	21:10

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