NERD Game Scores for Thursday, June 11, 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
Seattle at Cleveland | 12:10 ET
Happ (65.1 IP, 98 xFIP-) vs. Marcum (26.0 IP, 103 xFIP-)
As bearded philosopher-king Owen Watson demonstrated recently in the electronic pages, Cleveland’s rotation this season is producing strikeouts at an historical rate — even after adjusting for how the whole league is already producing strikeouts at an historical rate. Curiously, that’s not the immediate appeal of this game. Indeed, right-hander Shaun Marcum’s 24.1% strikeout rate as a starter does compare favorably to the league as whole, but ranks only fifth among starters on the club. The appeal, rather — according to the dubious methodology used by the author — lies in Cleveland’s batting corps, a group that has hit and run the bases at levels roughly one and two standard deviations, respectively, above the league average. Moreover, one finds that they control the strike zone excellently, having produced the league’s lowest collective swing rate at pitches out of the zone, but the third-highest rate of contact overall.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Perpetually Looping Video: Vincent Velasquez’s Whole Repertoire
Right-handed Houston prospect Vincent Velasquez debuted for that same club last night, recording five strikeouts against 20 batters over 5.0 innings (box). What follows is a constantly looping video featuring his fastball, breaking ball, and changeup.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features San Diego at Atlanta, starts at 12:10 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
And. Cashner	SD	9	3	5	2	5	ATL	Julio Teheran	12:10
J.A. Happ	SEA	4	5	6	8	6	CLE	Shaun Marcum	12:10
CC Gonzalez	TEX	1	4	3	4	5	OAK	Scott Kazmir	15:35
Wade Miley	BOS	3	4	3	4	2	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Chris Rusin	COL	6	3	4	5	3	MIA	David Phelps	19:10
Gar’t Richards	LAA	5	7	5	5	5	TB	Alex Colome	19:10
Tim Lincecum	SF	3	6	5	5	5	NYN	Jon Niese	19:10
Mi. Lorenzen	CIN	3	5	4	6	4	CHN	Tsuyoshi Wada	20:05
Tanner Roark	WAS	3	5	4	3	4	MIL	Matt Garza	20:10

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