NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, July 8, 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
Toronto at Los Angeles AL | 22:05 ET
R.A. Dickey (112.0 IP, 110 xFIP-, 0.6 WAR) faces Tyler Skaggs (84.1 IP, 94 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR). The former, despite continuing to produce less excellent defense-independent numbers than in 2012, still prevents sufficient runs by means of the knuckleball — which baseball pitch famous and droll American painter James McNeill Whistler likely would have praised (had he not died instead) on the grounds that it is equal parts beautiful and amusing.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Regarding Tsuyoshi Wada, His Major-League Debut
Signed out of Japan for two years and $8.14 million by Baltimore in December of 2011, the left-handed Tsuyoshi Wada promptly required Tommy John surgery and has thrown just over 200 minor-league innings following his recovery. Today, the 33-year-old makes his real-live major-league debut after recording impressive strikeout and walk rates of 25.4% and 6.3%, respectively, over 17 appearances (16 starts) for Triple-A Iowa this season.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features San Diego at Colorado, starts at 8:40pm 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
Travis Wood	CHN	1	4	4	3	8	CIN	Johnny Cueto	13:10
Tsuyoshi Wada*	CHN	9	4	6	3	5	CIN	David Holmberg*	19:10
Bud Norris	BAL	3	6	5	6	5	WAS	Doug Fister	19:05
Masahiro Tanaka	NYA	10	3	7	7	6	CLE	Trevor Bauer	19:05
Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAN	6	5	5	4	3	DET	Justin Verlander	19:08
Julio Teheran	ATL	6	7	5	2	5	NYN	Jacob deGrom	19:10
John Danks	CHA	2	2	2	2	3	BOS	Brandon Workman	19:10
Jason Vargas	KC	4	5	5	7	6	TB	Jeremy Hellickson*	19:10
Brad Peacock	HOU	3	8	3	4	0	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Kyle Kendrick	PHI	1	2	4	6	7	MIL	Wily Peralta	20:10
Vance Worley	PIT	5	4	5	3	7	STL	Carlos Martinez*	20:15
Tyson Ross	SD	8	4	5	9	2	COL	Franklin Morales	20:40
Brad Hand*	MIA	4	7	4	3	4	NYA	Vidal Nuno	21:40
Ma’son Bumgarner	SF	9	5	7	7	6	OAK	Sonny Gray	22:05
R.A. Dickey	TOR	9	6	8	6	7	LAA	Tyler Skaggs	22:05
Phil Hughes	MIN	9	4	5	5	0	SEA	Chris Young	22:10

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