NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, August 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
Washington at Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
Ross (45.0 IP, 66 xFIP-) vs. Greinke (152.1 IP, 83 xFIP-)
Both Washington rookie Joe Ross and also San Diego right-hander Tyson Ross, who are brothers, feature sliders which currently sit within the league’s top ten by linear-weight runs among all starters — a notable accomplishment, especially, in the case of the former Ross, who’s recorded fewer than 50 major-league innings this season. Were the author capable of it, he would craft a long-form narrative piece exploring the implications of a family genetically predisposed to mastering this one pitch, considering both the practical kinetic explanations and also the more profound, nearly mystical, fraternal ones. Lacking both of skill and also tolerance for the sort of precision required by such an endeavor, however, what I’ve done instead is merely to produce this paragraph which invokes the possibility of such a piece. Less substantial, that, but also much less tedious for everyone involved.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles NL Television.

Two Brief Notes
A Note on Luis Severino
Yankee right-hander Luis Severino is scheduled to record his second major-league start this evening after producing a 7:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio against 18 batters over 5.0 innings in his debut last Wednesday (box). Eno Sarris used that start as an entree into a clever and objective examination of rookie velocity and the “adrenaline effect.” Put briefly: it’s real.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Oakland at Toronto, starts at 19:07 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 adjustments here and here.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Kend. Graveman	OAK	4	3	6	8	7	TOR	Drew Hutchison	19:07
Williams Perez	ATL	2	2	3	4	6	TB	Erasmo Ramirez	19:10
Steven Wright	BOS	8	3	4	3	2	MIA	Justin Nicolino	19:10
Chris Rusin	COL	6	3	6	8	9	NYN	Matt Harvey	19:10
Luis Severino*	NYA	10	9	8	4	10	CLE	Carlos Carrasco	19:10
Taylor Jungmann	MIL	5	2	4	7	2	CHN	Dan Haren	20:05
Anibal Sanchez	DET	6	2	4	3	8	KC	Yordano Ventura	20:10
Hector Santiago	LAA	4	9	6	2	8	CHA	Carlos Rodon	20:10
Yovani Gallardo	TEX	2	3	3	2	5	MIN	Kyle Gibson	20:10
Jeff Locke	PIT	5	9	6	3	9	STL	Carlos Martinez	20:15
David Buchanan	PHI	3	1	3	5	4	AZ	Jer. Hellickson	21:40
Chris Tillman	BAL	3	7	6	3	10	SEA	Taijuan Walker	22:10
Mi. Lorenzen	CIN	3	3	4	3	7	SD	Colin Rea*	22:10
Joe Ross	WAS	10	10	9	9	6	LAN	Zack Greinke	22:10
Scott Kazmir	HOU	6	8	8	9	9	SF	Ma.n Bumgarner	22:15

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