NERD Game Scores: Populist Knuckleball Entertainment Event

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
Boston at Los Angeles AL | 22:05 ET
Wright (43.1 IP, 125 xFIP-) vs. Heaney (27.1 IP, 82 xFIP-)
Due to popular opinion — which, one must concede, is generally among the least attractive opinions — the calculation for the NERD pitcher scores includes a bonus for knuckleballers equivalent to 5 * KN%, where KN% represents the number of knucklers a pitcher has thrown as a percentage of all the pitches he’s thrown. An attempt, this, to represent the sort of appeal a knuckleballer might possess above and beyond his actual performance. Boston right-hander Steven Wright is the only starter besides R.A. Dickey to benefit from this bonus: Wright has thrown the pitch at least about 80% of the time according to PITCHf/x — and probably more often than that, after adjusting for some of PITCHf/x’s classification issues. Wright pitches tonight against Andrew Heaney, who’s enjoyed considerable success since joining the club in late June.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Perpetually Looping Video: One Pitch Ever from Steven Wright
Here’s footage of one knuckleball ever courtesy Steven Wright to Mike Trout, from earlier this season:

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Los Angeles NL at Atlanta, starts at 19:10 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
Ed. Rodriguez	BOS	8	5	6	7	3	LAA	Hector Santiago	17:05
Steven Wright	BOS	8	5	7	7	8	LAA	Andrew Heaney	22:05
Matt Harvey	NYN	9	5	6	5	6	WAS	Gio Gonzalez	19:05
Matt Moore	TB	0	4	2	2	1	PHI	David Buchanan	19:05
J.A. Happ	SEA	5	4	4	5	3	DET	Alfredo Simon	19:08
Clayt’n Richard*	CHN	2	7	4	4	3	CIN	Michael Lorenzen	19:10
Brand. Beachy*	LAN	3	5	4	2	4	ATL	Matthew Wisler	19:10
A.J. Burnett	PIT	5	8	7	6	8	KC	Yordano Ventura	20:10
Nick Martinez	TEX	2	3	3	4	4	COL	Chris Rusin	20:40
David Phelps	MIA	3	5	5	5	9	AZ	Rubby de la Rosa	21:40
Tim Hudson	SF	5	5	5	4	5	SD	Ian Kennedy	22:10

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