NERD Game Scores for Thursday, June 5, 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
St. Louis at Kansas City | 20:10 ET
Michael Wacha (73.1 IP, 83 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR) faces Yordano Ventura (57.1 IP, 83 xFIP-, 1.1 WAR). In or around 1964, very good boxer Cassius Clay suggested that, among all the qualities he possessed, that probably his youth and speed and invincibility were the most notable. This evening’s starters share the first two traits in some quantity. As they’re facing each other, however, they will likely demonstrate more in the way of beated-ness than Clay himself might have.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: St. Louis Radio.

Three Brief Notes
Reagrding Jacob deGrom, His Most Recent Start
While his overall fielding-independent numbers are merely average, young Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom was excellent in his most recent start, recording an 11:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio against 23 batters over 6.1 innings at Philadelphia (box).

Regarding Jacob deGrom, All of His Pitches
One notes by way of the video below that deGrom produced strikeouts during that start at Philadelphia by way of no fewer than three different pitches — and maybe more:

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features San Francisco and Cincinnati, starts at 12:35pm 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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
M’son Bumgarner	SF	9	7	7	2	6	CIN	Mike Leake	12:35
Drew Pomeranz	OAK	5	6	7	3	10	NYA	Masahiro Tanaka	13:05
J.A. Happ	TOR	3	7	4	4	3	DET	Justin Verlander	13:08
Kyle Kendrick	PHI	1	1	4	7	6	WAS	Doug Fister	16:05
Jacob Turner	MIA	7	7	6	5	6	TB	Jake Odorizzi	16:10
Jacob deGrom	NYN	5	2	4	5	4	CHN	Travis Wood	19:05
Tyler Skaggs	LAA	6	8	6	7	4	HOU	Brad Peacock	19:10
Chris Tillman	BAL	2	4	3	3	3	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Wily Peralta	MIL	7	6	4	4	1	MIN	Kevin Correia	20:10
Michael Wacha	STL	10	4	9	4	10	KC	Yordano Ventura	20:10
Bronson Arroyo	AZ	5	5	5	9	3	COL	Juan Nicasio	20:40

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