NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, August 12, 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
Detroit at Pittsburgh | 19:05 ET
Robbie Ray (15.1 IP, 124 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR) faces Edinson Volquez (133.2 IP, 116 xFIP-, 0.1 WAR). After their loss last night to Pittsburgh (box) — this, combined with Kansas City’s late-inning victory (their eighth consecutive) over Oakland (other box) — Detroit now occupies a rare space in the monde du baseball, in that they possess the third-best odds of winning the World Series according to the methodology utilized by this site while also occupying just second place in their own division. Indeed, the Tigers still possess a favorable projected rest-of-season winning percentage (.574) relative to the Royals (.500).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
MLB Debut Notice: Liriano
Outfielder Rymer Liriano, ranked fifth among San Diego prospects this preseason by Marc Hulet and generally praised for his tools, made his major-league debut for that same club last night, in right field. The result: 4 PA, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 HR, 0 H (box).

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Arizona at Cleveland, starts at 7:05pm 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
Josh Collmenter	AZ	3	3	4	4	9	CLE	T.J. House	19:05
Robbie Ray*	DET	6	7	7	10	2	PIT	Edinson Volquez	19:05
Shane Greene	NYA	7	4	6	6	6	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	19:05
Joe Kelly	BOS	4	2	3	3	3	CIN	Mat Latos	19:10
Dan Haren	LAN	5	4	5	6	5	ATL	Mike Minor	19:10
Ad’m Wainwright	STL	5	9	6	4	4	MIA	Jarred Cosart	19:10
Doug Fister	WAS	5	5	4	2	2	NYN	Rafael Montero	19:10
Wily Peralta	MIL	7	10	7	3	6	CHN	Kyle Hendricks	20:05
Jer. Hellickson	TB	0	4	3	3	2	TEX	Nick Tepesch	20:05
Yohan Pino	MIN	3	3	4	4	7	HOU	Collin McHugh	20:10
Jon Lester	OAK	7	6	6	8	3	KC	Jeremy Guthrie	20:10
Jer. Williams*	PHI	4	2	5	9	4	LAA	C.J. Wilson	22:05
Yohan Flande	COL	4	4	3	3	0	SD	Odris. Despaigne	22:10
J.A. Happ	TOR	4	6	4	5	1	SEA	Chris Young	22:10
Chris Sale	CHA	10	2	5	7	3	SF	Ryan Vogelsong	22:15

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