NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 | 15:40 ET
Archer (38.1 IP, 76 xFIP-) vs. Walker (32.0 IP, 74 xFIP-)
During 2014, the season in which debuted, Seattle right-hander Taijuan Walker walked more than 11% of the batters he faced over 38.0 innings. Had he recorded the requisite number of innings that year, Walker would have produced the second-highest walk rate among the league’s roughly 90 qualifiers. This season, over six starts and 32.0 innings, Walker has recorded a walk rate lower than every qualifier’s walk rate except for Clayton Kershaw’s walk rate. Is it evidence that people really can change? Or perhaps merely the product of variance, and the world remains cold and indifferent. This game will provide a single data point in support of one argument or the other.

Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Milwaukee at Miami starts at 19:10 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author began the process of process of reproducing the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The first installment of the results of the effort will appear on Monday, May 16.

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 calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.

NERD Scores for May 11, 2016

Away		SP	TM	GM	TM	SP		Home	Time
Colin Rea	SD	4	5	6	9	8	CHN	Kyle Hendricks	13:05
Drew Pomeranz	SD	6	5	7	9	9	CHN	John Lackey	20:05
Tyler Wilson	BAL	4	5	5	6	4	MIN	Phil Hughes	13:10
Mat Latos	CHA	1	4	3	3	5	TEX	Cole Hamels	14:05
Danny Salazar	CLE	7	6	5	6	2	HOU	Doug Fister	14:10
Robbie Ray	AZ	5	7	5	4	5	COL	Chad Bettis	15:10
Chris Archer	TB	8	7	8	5	10	SEA	Taijuan Walker	15:40
Marcus Stroman	TOR	7	4	6	5	7	SF	Madison Bumgarner	15:45
Jordan Zimmermann	DET	4	4	6	6	8	WAS	Max Scherzer	19:05
Yordano Ventura	KC	1	3	4	4	7	NYA	Michael Pineda	19:05
Chase Anderson	MIL	3	6	5	7	5	MIA	Wei-Yin Chen	19:10
Eric Surkamp	OAK	0	4	4	7	6	BOS	Rick Porcello	19:10
Jerad Eickhoff	PHI	8	3	6	0	8	ATL	Jhoulys Chacin	19:10
Juan Nicasio	PIT	4	5	4	4	3	CIN	Alfredo Simon	19:10
Jaime Garcia	STL	7	7	5	2	3	LAA	Matt Shoemaker	22:05
Noah Syndergaard	NYN	10	8	7	4	6	LAN	Kenta Maeda	22:10

SP denotes pitcher NERD score.
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.

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