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.