NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, May 27, 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
Boston at Atlanta | 19:10 ET
Jon Lester (67.0 IP, 74 xFIP-, 2.2 WAR) faces Aaron Harang (59.2 IP, 86 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR). The former has recorded a strikeout rate (27.8%) this season approximately a third higher than his already totally competent career mark. The latter — according to Wikipedia, at least — was brutally murdered by a gang of criminals and subsequently revived by the malevolent mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) as a superhuman cyborg baseball pitcher.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.
Two Brief Notes
Regarding McHugh, His Number of Strikeouts Versus Innings
Right-hander Collin McHugh, acquired by Houston via waivers this offseason, has recorded more strikeouts (41) this season than innings (38.0) — a sentence, that, which has never been rendered into print — or even uttered aloud, probably — throughout the whole duration of the universe.
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game hadn’t been announced as of press time, but 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J. de la Rosa | COL | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 7 | PHI | Cole Hamels | 19:05 |
| Hen’son Alvarez | MIA | 6 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 6 | WAS | Blake Treinen* | 19:05 |
| Alex Cobb | TB | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | TOR | Mark Buehrle | 19:07 |
| Jon Lester | BOS | 8 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | ATL | Aaron Harang | 19:10 |
| Edinson Volquez | PIT | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | NYN | Jon Niese | 19:10 |
| Wei-Yin Chen | BAL | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | MIL | Matt Garza | 20:10 |
| Justin Masterson | CLE | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 10 | CHA | Chris Sale | 20:10 |
| Collin McHugh | HOU | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | KC | Jeremy Guthrie | 20:10 |
| Yu Darvish | TEX | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | MIN | Phil Hughes | 20:10 |
| David Phelps | NYA | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | STL | Lance Lynn | 20:15 |
| Eric Stults | SD | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | AZ | Wade Miley | 21:40 |
| Max Scherzer | DET | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | OAK | Sonny Gray | 22:05 |
| Alfredo Simon | CIN | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | LAN | Zack Greinke | 22:10 |
| Jered Weaver | LAA | 3 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 5 | SEA | Roenis Elias | 22:10 |
| Jake Arrieta* | CHN | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | SF | Tim Hudson | 22:15 |
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Buehrle vs. Cobb a 5 because Buehrle is a 4? The weighting of factors for watchability ought to take greater account of pitcher pace. Buehrle is a pleasure to watch on a number of levels for me, but maybe this is a matter of taste. Some people like it fast, some people like it slow- to paraphrase John Lee Hooker.
Buehrle is a difficult case with regard to this exercise for a number of reasons — not the least of which is that he prevents more runs than his defense-independent numbers suggest he should (a fact which is even more pronounced this year).
It doesn’t surprise me that one would want to watch Buehrle pitch, but I also think it’d probably create other, even less defensible problems to recalibrate the system to accommodate him. He’s a pleasant weirdo.
Yu is only a 6? I find he’s a real pleasure to watch due to his mix of stuff. I like Buehrle for the same reason (really using a wide mix of pitches rather than majority fastball) in addition to reason above. Maybe pitch variability could be a factor.
The pitcher ratings never seem to match my expectations. Phil Hughes more watchable than Yu Darvish?! That doesn’t even seem possible.
I would never quibble with the infallibility of NERD Score. I would, however, venture a query: How does the handsome author decide which game is Most Highly Rated when more than one game has the highest NERD Score (which, again, is infallible as a system)? Is some sort of subjectivity introduced in this otherwise extremely objective enterprise?