NERD Game Scores for Thursday, May 1, 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 and MLB.TV Free Game
Atlanta at Miami | 19:10 ET
Ervin Santana (27.2 IP, 57 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR) faces Henderson Alvarez (29.2 IP, 98 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR). The former has been a revelation thus far, having added what appears to be an entirely serviceable changeup to his repertoire — which transformation Jeff Sullivan documented in some depth on Monday. He faces a Miami lineup that has done quite a lot of “hitting” over the first two games of the series, producing single-game wOBAs of .440 and .488, respectively.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.

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.

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Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Cesar Ramos*	TB	3	7	3	2	2	BOS	Jake Peavy	13:05
Chris Archer	TB	8	7	5	2	2	BOS	Felix Doubront	19:10
Dan Haren	LAN	6	5	4	5	2	MIN	Mike Pelfrey*	13:10
Undecided*	LAN	5	5	5	5	5	MIN	Kris Johnson*	19:10
Charlie Morton	PIT	3	8	4	4	4	BAL	Bud Norris	16:05
Brand. Cumpton*	PIT	6	8	5	4	4	BAL	Chris Tillman	TBD
Roenis Elias	SEA	4	5	4	5	3	NYA	Hiroki Kuroda	19:05
Ervin Santana	ATL	10	8	8	8	5	MIA	Hen. Alvarez	19:10
Marco Estrada	MIL	4	7	5	3	7	CIN	Homer Bailey	19:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	4	6	3	3	2	KC	Jeremy Guthrie	20:10
Bartolo Colon	NYN	6	2	6	8	6	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.