NERD Game Scores: Phil Hughes, Out of Curiosity

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
New York AL at Minnesota | 20:10 ET
Masahiro Tanaka (115.1 IP, 64 xFIP-, 3.0 WAR) faces Phil Hughes (103.0 IP, 85 xFIP-, 3.1 WAR). While the virtues of the former are conspicuous, it might interest the reader to learn that the latter (i.e. Phil Hughes) has produced (a) a slightly higher WAR this season than Tanaka and, indeed, (b) the highest WAR of his eight-year career already and (c) a league-best walk rate of just 2.4%. A second possibility is that none of this interests the reader, who has continued reading this paragraph out of only that sort of grotesque curiosity which afflicts men from time to time. In either case, there’s little more of substance to say on the matter.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Minnesota Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Mookie Betts Status Update
Through Wednesday now, beloved Red Sox prospect Mookie Betts has recorded a 1:1 walk-to-strikeout ratio and single home run through 16 plate appearances — which home run (a) he hit yesterday off Carlos Villanueva (box) and (b) has been commemorated at no great inconvenience to the author by means of the video below.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features St. Louis at San Francisco, starts at 3:45pm 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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Carlos Martinez*	STL	5	3	6	6	9	SF	M. Bumgarner	15:45
Kyle Kendrick	PHI	1	2	3	8	4	MIA	Brad Hand*	18:10
Brand. McCarthy	AZ	9	6	6	5	4	PIT	Vance Worley	19:05
Yu Darvish	TEX	7	4	6	6	5	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	19:05
Erik Bedard	TB	2	7	5	4	8	DET	Max Scherzer	19:08
Zack Greinke	LAN	8	5	6	9	2	COL	Franklin Morales	20:10
Masahiro Tanaka	NYA	10	3	8	3	8	MIN	Phil Hughes	20:10
R.A. Dickey	TOR	9	7	7	7	6	OAK	Sonny Gray	21:05
Br. Oberholtzer	HOU	4	7	7	6	9	LAA	Matt Shoemaker	22:05

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