NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, May 6, 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
Cleveland at Kansas City | 20:10 ET
Carrasco (21.2 IP, 58 xFIP-) vs. Duffy (28.2 IP, 90 xFIP-)
All indications indicated that Cleveland right-hander Carlos Carrasco would sustain — given adequate health — would largely sustain in 2015 his success from 2014. FanGraphs’ Eno Sarris found, for example, that no other pitcher generated a better combination of swinging strikes and ground balls with each pitch in his arsenal. That sort of performance in combination with the plus-plus velocity he exhibited on his fastball last year suggested that he possessed both the physical tools and pitching-specific skills to produce an excellent campaign. While he’s had some difficulty in preventing actual runs over his first five starts, Carrasco has continued to record among the very best defense-independent numbers in the league, having recorded, for example, the third-best expected FIP among all pitchers with 20-plus innings — behind only Clayton Kershaw and teammate Danny Salazar. Nor is the run-scoring likely all his fault: the Cleveland defense currently sits comfortably in the bottom third among all clubs both by Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

Two Brief Notes
A Game for People with Friends
For that portion of the readership who’ve somehow managed not only to originally make but somehow also sustain friendships with other human people, here’s a meaningless game on which you can gamble either all your life’s earnings or just your honor. Tonight features what would appear to be an inordinate number of hard-throwing pitchers. Carlos Carrasco, Gerrit Cole, Mike Foltynewicz, Wily Peralta: each of them basically sits at 95 mph. Nor are Jacob deGrom, Chris Sale, or Alfredo Simon far behind. Who, though, will average the hardest fastball tonight? Or maybe who will throw the single hardest fastball during the course of his start? Or who will throw the hardest fastball in each of their respective first innings? There are a number of possible permutations. Here’s one thing that’s not possible, though: escaping the cold hand of death. This game, at least, will allow one to avoid the thought of that death for a brief interval.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Arizona at Colorado, starts at 3:10pm 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
Tom Koehler	MIA	3	5	6	5	10	WAS	Max Scherzer	13:05
Josh Collmenter	AZ	5	5	3	4	0	COL	Tyler Matzek	15:10
Robbie Ray*	AZ	6	5	5	4	3	COL	Jordan Lyles	Gm2
Ian Kennedy	SD	5	4	5	4	7	SF	Chris Heston	15:45
Mike Leake	CIN	6	6	7	6	10	PIT	Gerrit Cole	19:05
CC Sabathia	NYA	7	6	6	7	5	TOR	Mark Buehrle	19:07
Ubaldo Jimenez	BAL	7	6	7	6	7	NYN	Jacob deGrom	19:10
Jerome Williams	PHI	5	1	5	4	8	ATL	Mike Foltynewicz*	19:10
Alex Colome*	TB	8	4	6	5	4	BOS	Justin Masterson	19:10
Carlos Carrasco	CLE	10	7	8	7	8	KC	Danny Duffy	20:10
Alfredo Simon	DET	5	4	6	0	10	CHA	Chris Sale	20:10
Joe Wieland*	LAN	7	8	6	3	5	MIL	Wily Peralta	20:10
Scott Kazmir	OAK	8	7	5	3	2	MIN	Kyle Gibson	20:10
Colby Lewis	TEX	4	3	5	10	4	HOU	Samuel Deduno*	20:10
Jon Lester	CHN	8	5	7	5	8	STL	Lance Lynn	20:15
Roenis Elias	SEA	8	5	5	5	3	LAA	C.J. Wilson	22:05

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