NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, September 3, 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
Seattle at Oakland | 15:35 ET
Felix Hernandez (198.0 IP, 66 xFIP-, 5.5 WAR) faces Jon Lester (183.2 IP, 80 xFIP-, 5.5 WAR). Among those endeavors which are less difficult and complex than rocket science, one of them likely is identifying which of today’s games is most compelling. This one between the Mariners and Athletics, is the answer. On account of both clubs retain odds of qualifying for the playoffs somewhere between 0% and 100%. And also on account of how the two starting pitchers are among the league’s best. To that latter point, regard: Hernandez and Lester have the first- and 11th-highest projected rest-of-season projected WAR totals among all major-leauge pitchers.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Debut Alerts: Franco and Pederson
Maikel Franco and Joc Pederson, both considered in some depth by Kiley McDaniel yesterday, both recorded their first major-league starts on Tuesday, the former at third base for Philadelphia and the latter in center for the Dodgers. Franco’s line: 4 PA, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HR, 0 H. And Pederson’s: 4 PA, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 HR, 1 H.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Pittsburgh at St. Louis, starts at 1:45pm 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
David Buchanan	PHI	4	3	5	6	7	ATL	Ervin Santana	12:10
Edinson Volquez	PIT	2	7	5	6	3	STL	Shelby Miller	13:45
Ryan Vogelsong	SF	3	10	5	4	1	COL	Chris. Bergman	15:10
Jo. Zimmermann	WAS	9	4	6	5	7	LAN	Carlos Frias*	15:10
Felix Hernandez	SEA	10	6	8	10	7	OAK	Jon Lester	15:35
Ant’ny Ranaudo*	BOS	4	3	3	3	3	NYA	Hiroki Kuroda	19:05
Dylan Axelrod*	CIN	6	3	4	4	1	BAL	Miguel Gonzalez	19:05
Justin Verlander	DET	3	8	6	4	8	CLE	Danny Salazar	19:05
Jacob deGrom	NYN	8	3	4	4	4	MIA	Tom Koehler	19:10
Marcus Stroman	TOR	9	4	5	4	6	TB	Chris Archer	19:10
Matt Garza	MIL	4	9	6	4	5	CHN	Kyle Hendricks	20:05
John Danks	CHA	2	3	3	3	4	MIN	Trevor May*	20:10
Jered Weaver	LAA	2	5	5	4	7	HOU	Collin McHugh	20:10
Nick Tepesch	TEX	1	3	5	10	4	KC	Jason Vargas	20:10
Josh Collmenter	AZ	4	3	4	3	8	SD	Andrew Cashner	22:05

To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.