NERD Game Scores for Sunday, August 10, 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 | 14:10 ET
Clayton Kershaw (128.1 IP, 51 xFIP-, 4.8 WAR) faces Jimmy Nelson (30.0 IP, 106 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR). Despite the fact that not only St. Louis and Pittsburgh — but also even Cincinnati — are all expected to produce higher win percentages over the remaining quarter-plus of the season, Milwaukee now possesses the highest odds of all NL Central clubs of winning that same division. This is due in no small part to how the Brewers have banked wins, as it were, in each of their last three games. Banking a fourth consecutive one will prove more difficult, on account of how they face leauge’s best starter on a per-inning basis.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Club Debut: Zach Walters for Cleveland
Infielder and apparently also outfielder Zach Walters, acquired by Cleveland in the trade that sent Asdrubal Cabrera to Washington, has been promoted to the majors and is expected to start in left field today.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Minnesota at Oakland, starts at 4:05pm 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
Carlos Carrasco	CLE	7	5	5	5	4	NYA	Hiroki Kuroda	13:05
David Price	DET	10	5	6	6	4	TOR	Mark Buehrle	13:07
Brad Hand	MIA	4	4	4	3	8	CIN	Johnny Cueto	13:10
Zack Wheeler	NYN	8	2	3	3	2	PHI	Kyle Kendrick	13:35
Tyson Ross	SD	9	3	6	9	4	PIT	Charlie Morton	13:35
Lance Lynn	STL	4	9	6	6	4	BAL	Kevin Gausman	13:35
Clayton Kershaw	LAN	10	4	7	10	6	MIL	Jimmy Nelson	14:10
Tim Lincecum	SF	6	9	7	7	3	KC	Danny Duffy	14:10
Nick Martinez	TEX	0	3	4	4	7	HOU	Dallas Keuchel	14:10
Alex Cobb	TB	7	4	4	3	2	CHN	Travis Wood	14:20
Rubby de la Rosa	BOS	5	2	5	9	2	LAA	Hector Santiago	15:35
Phil Hughes	MIN	10	3	6	5	6	OAK	Jason Hammel	16:05
John Danks	CHA	2	2	3	5	3	SEA	Erasmo Ramirez	16:10
Franklin Morales	COL	0	4	4	3	8	AZ	Wade Miley	16:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	7	5	6	6	7	ATL	Alex Wood	20:05

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