NERD Game Scores for Sunday, May 10, 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
Minnesota at Cleveland | 13:10 ET
May (26.0 IP, 95 xFIP-) vs. Salazar (26.0 IP, 55 xFIP-)
Today’s actual and official most highly rated game is the one featuring the Dodgers at the Rockies at 4:10pm — which is to say, the one featuring the perpetually effective Clayton Kershaw versus the curiously effective Jorge de la Rosa. That particular encounter, however, was also yesterday’s most highly rated game before inclement weather cancelled it. The virtues of the Dodgers-Rockies contest are enumerated in only slighter greater depth here. With regard to this game between Minnesota and Cleveland, its most notable quality is how it provides the opportunity to observe Cleveland right-hander Danny Salazar. Were pitcher NERD figures not capped at 10, Salazar would receive a score of 15. He’s produced an expected FIP more than two standard deviations better than the average starter; a swinging-strike rate almost exactly three standard deviations better. Plus he throws harder than nearly everyone else.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

One Other Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Atlanta at Washington, starts at 1:35pm 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
Bud Norris	BAL	4	6	7	6	10	NYA	Michael Pineda	13:05
Clay Buchholz	BOS	9	5	7	7	7	TOR	R.A. Dickey	13:07
Trevor May	MIN	8	3	8	7	10	CLE	Danny Salazar	13:10
Wan. Rodriguez	TEX	3	3	5	5	8	TB	Jake Odorizzi	13:10
Alex Wood	ATL	5	3	5	5	5	WAS	Jord. Zimmermann	13:35
Bartolo Colon	NYN	8	5	5	0	4	PHI	Chad Billingsley*	13:35
Tyler Lyons*	STL	7	5	7	6	8	PIT	Jeff Locke	13:35
Kyle Hendricks	CHN	6	5	5	3	4	MIL	Matt Garza	14:10
Mich. Lorenzen	CIN	7	6	5	1	6	CHA	John Danks	14:10
Scott Feldman	HOU	6	10	7	5	6	LAA	Garrett Richards	15:35
Mat Latos	MIA	4	4	4	3	3	SF	Ryan Vogelsong	16:05
Clayton Kershaw	LAN	10	8	9	4	10	COL	Jorge de la Rosa	16:10
Jesse Chavez	OAK	6	6	7	5	9	SEA	Felix Hernandez	16:10
Andrew Cashner	SD	9	4	6	6	5	AZ	Undecided	16:10
Chris Young*	KC	7	7	6	4	7	DET	Shane Greene	20:05

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