NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, May 20, 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
St. Louis at New York NL | 18:10 ET
Martinez (51.1 IP, 88 xFIP-) vs. Colon (40.0 IP, 90 xFIP-)
Here, in lieu of a thousand words, is a chart depicting the number of batters Bartolo Colon has faced and the number of those same batters (colored red) that he’s walked (click to enlarge, naturally):
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL Television.
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Seattle at Baltimore, starts at 7:05pm 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jesse Hahn | OAK | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 7 | HOU | Dallas Keuchel | 14:10 |
| Mike Pelfrey | MIN | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 5 | PIT | Jeff Locke | 19:05 |
| Adam Warren | NYA | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | WAS | Jo. Zimmermann | 19:05 |
| Roenis Elias | SEA | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | BAL | Wei-Yin Chen | 19:05 |
| Jered Weaver | LAA | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | TOR | Drew Hutchison | 19:07 |
| Kyle Lohse | MIL | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | DET | Shane Greene | 19:08 |
| Chase Anderson | AZ | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | MIA | David Phelps | 19:10 |
| Carlos Martinez | STL | 10 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | NYN | Bartolo Colon | 19:10 |
| Jake Odorizzi | TB | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | ATL | Williams Perez* | 19:10 |
| Phil Klein* | TEX | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | BOS | Joe Kelly | 19:10 |
| Jason Marquis | CIN | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | KC | Jeremy Guthrie | 20:10 |
| Shaun Marcum* | CLE | 4 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 5 | CHA | Carlos Rodon | 20:10 |
| Sev. Gonzalez* | PHI | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | COL | Eddie Butler | 20:40 |
| Tsuyoshi Wada* | CHN | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | SD | Tyson Ross | 22:10 |
| Brett Anderson | LAN | 7 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | SF | Tim Lincecum | 22:15 |
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
your formula needs revamped if Jeff Locke has the same score as Carlos Rodon. Watching Jeff Locke pitch is torturous. Also, the Pirates’ team score should more accurately reflect the fact that they suck. Not sure how they are a 7 while DET is a 6.
My personal proprietary NERD score modifications:
– +2 game score for games called by Vin Scully
– +3 team score for teams that contain Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, or Corey Kluber
– +2 pitcher score for pitchers categorized as Inexplicable Natural Phenomena (e.g. Colon, Chapman, Dickey)
– -2 team score for teams that pretentiously refuse to put player names on their jerseys
Might be a bit low on Scully.
My own modifications:
+2 for historically bad defenses.
+3 for hittable pitchers facing good to great hitters. said pitchers must give up fangraphs beloved ‘hard-hit balls’ at a rate that makes statcast quiver. (put another way, not boring f’n walks).
May I present to you the Urban Shocker pick, LAA v Tor. (uNERD:8)
You must make Josh Collmenter starts appointment TV. Implosions par excellence.
I was thinking it’s too bad Collmenter missed facing the Nationals last week but then I double-checked and my memory was only half-wrong, he barely faced them: 1.1 IP, 8 hits, 9 ER, 2 HR.
I can respect liking to watch a dumpster fire. But I prefer to pretend the Diamondbacks only play games on the days Anderson, De La Rosa and Bradley are starting.