NERD Game Scores for Sunday, July 6, 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
Arizona at Atlanta | 13:35 ET
Wade Miley (113.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 0.8 WAR) faces Alex Wood (73.1 IP, 80 xFIP-, 1.0 WAR). In addition to having recorded an above-average park-adjusted xFIP (90 xFIP-) and swinging-strike rate (9.8%) and overall strike rate (64.7%) relative to his starting peers, the former has also produced the third-fastest working rate (just 18.8 seconds between pitches, on average) among the 193 pitchers to’ve thrown 20-plus innings in a starting capacity. This isn’t to ignore Alex Wood’s virtues, of course — which pitcher (i.e. Wood) has also produced a working pace (20.1 sec) more than a standard deviation better than average while also recording a 82 xFIP- as a starter this season.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.
Two Brief Notes
Regarding Taijuan Walker, How He’s Starting Today
Right-handed Seattle prospect Taijuan Walker was entirely proficient (6.0 IP, 3.04 xFIP) in his season debut at Houston last Monday (box) — which debut Jeff Sullivan considered in some depth the following day. He makes his second appearance of the season today in Chicago, against the White Sox, at 2:10pm ET.
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the actual same teams, at the actual same time, as today’s most highly rated game — 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.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny Duffy | KC | 2 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | CLE | Corey Kluber | 13:05 |
| Yovani Gallardo | MIL | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | CIN | Mat Latos | 13:10 |
| Nick Tepesch | TEX | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | NYN | Zack Wheeler | 13:10 |
| Wade Miley | AZ | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 9 | ATL | Alex Wood | 13:35 |
| Kevin Gausman | BAL | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | BOS | Jake Peavy | 13:35 |
| Jake Arrieta | CHN | 8 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 9 | WAS | J. Zimmermann | 13:35 |
| A.J. Burnett | PHI | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | PIT | Jeff Locke | 13:35 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | NYA | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | MIN | Ricky Nolasco | 14:10 |
| Taijuan Walker* | SEA | 9 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | CHA | Hector Noesi | 14:10 |
| Hend’son Alvarez | MIA | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | STL | Marco Gonzales* | 14:15 |
| Collin McHugh | HOU | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | LAA | Garrett Richards | 15:35 |
| Drew Hutchison | TOR | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | OAK | Jeff Samardzija | 16:05 |
| Josh Beckett | LAN | 5 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 5 | COL | Yohan Flande* | 16:10 |
| Tim Lincecum | SF | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 9 | SD | Jesse Hahn | 16:10 |
| David Price | TB | 10 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | DET | Rick Porcello | 20:00 |
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Happy Nick Tepesch day!
Wow, the Rays starting staff is 2nd (Price), 4th (Archer), 6th (Bedard) and 13th (Alex Cobb) on the list of slowest pitchers in the League, plus, out of their bullpen, the slowest paced pitcher in the game (Cesar Ramos).
That’s the Rays plan for getting back in the race…lull the opponents to sleep. Seriously though…Rays v Tigers is the best game on today imo.
This Corey Kluber guy is alright. He deserves to be appreciated in some organized fashion.
How does Herr Cistulli select which name is due an abbreviation by way of an apostrophe?
OK, very dumb question here. Mr. Cistulli referred to xFIP- as “park-adjusted xFIP”. My (mis?)understanding is that xFIP is already park-adjusted: It’s just composed of K, BB and fly-ball rate (all park-neutral measures), and that xFIP- is just a measure of how much better/worse one’s xFIP is than league average.