NERD Game Scores for Saturday, May 9, 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
Los Angeles NL at Colorado | 20:10 ET
Kershaw (38.2 IP, 50 xFIP-) vs. de la Rosa (12.0 IP, 66 xFIP-)
One benefit of this game to America and the Americans who live within it, is that it provides an opportunity to watch Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw. Insofar as Kershaw’s arm and body will submit eventually to the deleterious effects of age, only a finite number of such opportunities exist. This represents one of them. Otherwise, here’s another compelling feature of this contest — namely, that it allows everyone to learn more about this current, not entirely recognizable version of Jorge de la Rosa. Because, some facts about his (very brief) 2015 season thus far… One: he’s recorded an average fastball velocity of 93.8 mph, higher than at any other point in his career. Two: he’s produced a 16% swinging-strike rate, higher by six points than his career average. Three: he’s allowed runs (regard this number: 9.00 ERA) with considerably more frequency that his defense-independent numbers (regard these numbers: 2.58 FIP, 2.51 xFIP) would suggest.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: No Comment.

Two Brief Notes
Season Debut Alert
Young and powerful Clevelander Zach Walters, acquired last year from Washington in the deal that sent Asdrubal Cabrera to the latter club, was recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Friday. A shortstop for much of his early professional career, Cleveland would very much seem to be grooming him for a utility role. Regard, by way of illustration, the following table, featuring Walters’ starts by defensive position already this season with Columbus:

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Texas at Tampa Bay, starts at 6:10pm 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
Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	3	6	6	6	10	NYA	Chase Whitley	13:05
Joe Kelly	BOS	10	5	7	7	6	TOR	Drew Hutchison	13:07
Jeremy Guthrie	KC	4	7	6	4	7	DET	Anibal Sanchez	13:08
Julio Teheran	ATL	5	4	5	5	4	WAS	Doug Fister	16:05
Jason Marquis	CIN	7	6	5	0	4	CHA	Hector Noesi	16:10
Johnny Cueto	CIN	9	6	8	0	11	CHA	Carlos Rodon*	Gm2
Phil Hughes	MIN	7	3	5	7	4	CLE	Bruce Chen*	16:10
Ross Detwiler	TEX	2	3	4	4	8	TB	Jake Odorizzi	18:10
Jon Niese	NYN	6	6	5	1	5	PHI	Aaron Harang	19:05
Carl. Martinez	STL	9	5	6	6	4	PIT	Vance Worley	19:05
Travis Wood	CHN	8	5	5	2	5	MIL	Kyle Lohse	19:10
Clay. Kershaw	LAN	10	9	9	4	10	COL	Jorge de la Rosa	20:10
Tyson Ross	SD	8	4	7	6	7	AZ	Chase Anderson	20:10
Dallas Keuchel	HOU	7	10	7	5	7	LAA	Matt Shoemaker	21:05
David Phelps	MIA	3	5	5	3	7	SF	Ma. Bumgarner	21:05
Jesse Hahn	OAK	7	6	6	5	7	SEA	J.A. Happ	21:10

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