NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, May 5, 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
Tampa Bay at Boston | 19:10 ET
Smyly (10.2 IP, 53 xFIP-) vs. Porcello (32.0 IP, 101 xFIP-)
In his first start of his season, on April 24th, Tampa Bay left-hander Drew Smyly struck out roughly 28% of the opposing batters he faced — or about eight points more than league average. In his second and also only other start, he struck out roughly 46% of the batters he faced — which is to say, many more points greater than league average. One might be inclined to say that “at this rate” Smyly should be expected to strike out 64% of Boston’s hitters today (Tuesday). One might be inclined to say that, but one is inclined to make any number of poor decisions. Like playing bridge with anyone over seventy. Or like wearing brown shoes with black pants.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio or Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Concerning the Return of Billingsley
The Return of Billingsley is not, as one might first assume, the title of a wry comic novel by late British author Evelyn Waugh, but rather a reference to what makes this evening’s Philadelphia-Atlanta game significant, insofar as it marks the return of right-hander Chad Billingsley to the majors, at which level he last appeared on April 15, 2013. In the meantime, he’s endured injury and setbacks from injury and setbacks from the setbacks from injury. Signed to a one-year, $1.5 million by the Phillies in January, he’s produced strikeout and walk rates of 19.3% and 7.2%, respectively, over four starts and 19.0 innings with Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley. With regard to his velocity, he appears to have sat mostly in the high-80s during one of the recent starts.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Baltimore at New York NL, starts at 7:10pm 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
M. Lorenzen*	CIN	7	6	7	6	8	PIT	Jeff Locke	19:05
Mat Latos	MIA	4	5	6	4	9	WAS	Stephen Strasburg	19:05
Michael Pineda	NYA	10	6	7	7	5	TOR	Marco Estrada*	19:07
Bud Norris	BAL	2	5	5	7	7	NYN	Bartolo Colon	19:10
Chad Billingsley*	PHI	8	1	6	3	7	ATL	Shelby Miller	19:10
Drew Smyly	TB	10	4	7	5	7	BOS	Rick Porcello	19:10
Danny Salazar	CLE	10	6	6	6	2	KC	Jason Vargas	20:10
Shane Greene	DET	8	5	6	1	7	CHA	Jeff Samardzija	20:10
Zack Greinke	LAN	5	8	4	2	3	MIL	Matt Garza	20:10
Jesse Chavez	OAK	4	6	6	2	10	MIN	Trevor May	20:10
Wan. Rodriguez*	TEX	4	3	5	10	6	HOU	Scott Feldman	20:10
Kyle Hendricks	CHN	9	6	7	5	6	STL	Tyler Lyons*	20:15
Robbie Ray*	AZ	6	5	5	4	3	COL	Eddie Butler	20:40
James Paxton	SEA	9	5	7	4	6	LAA	Garrett Richards	22:05
Andrew Cashner	SD	10	4	5	4	2	SF	Ryan Vogelsong	22:15

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