NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, May 13, 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
Tampa Bay at Seattle | 22:10 ET
David Price (53.2 IP, 71 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR) faces Hisashi Iwakuma (14.2 IP, 69 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR). The former, despite having recorded an average fastball velocity over 1 mph lower than last year’s mark — which itself was 2 mph lower than his career-high 95.5 mph fastball average in 2012 — the former, despite all that, has pitched brilliantly thus far in 2014. To wit: both Price’s strikeout rate and walk rate are currently better than his previously established career-best marks by those same measures.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Tampa Bay 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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Drew Smyly	DET	4	5	3	3	2	BAL	Ubaldo Jimenez	19:05
Matt Shoemaker*	LAA	7	10	8	2	9	PHI	Cliff Lee	19:05
Zack Wheeler	NYN	8	3	5	5	3	NYA	Vidal Nuno	19:05
Justin Masterson	CLE	7	4	7	7	7	TOR	R.A. Dickey	19:07
Andrew Cashner	SD	7	4	6	4	5	CIN	Mike Leake	19:10
Felix Doubront	BOS	1	1	2	3	4	MIN	Ricky Nolasco	20:10
Franklin Morales	COL	3	10	5	3	5	KC	James Shields	20:10
Gerrit Cole	PIT	9	7	7	6	4	MIL	Marco Estrada	20:10
Matt Harrison*	TEX	3	3	6	7	9	HOU	Dallas Keuchel	20:10
Jake Arrieta*	CHN	6	5	6	3	6	STL	A. Wainwright	20:15
Stephen Strasburg	WAS	10	5	7	5	4	AZ	Bronson Arroyo	21:40
Scott Carroll*	CHA	4	3	5	5	6	OAK	Drew Pomeranz*	22:05
Jacob Turner*	MIA	4	8	5	5	4	LAN	Josh Beckett	22:10
David Price	TB	9	7	8	5	9	SEA	Hisashi Iwakuma*	22:10
Mike Minor*	ATL	6	7	4	6	0	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.