NERD Game Scores: Potentially Due Enthusiasm for T.J. House

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 Minnesota | 20:10 ET
T.J. House (45.0 IP, 89 xFIP-, 0.0 WAR) faces Kris Johnson (8.1 IP, 103 xFIP-, -0.1 WAR). The former, in his rookie season, has recorded both a park-adjusted xFIP (89 xFIP-) and strike rate (65.9%) nearly a standard deviation above the mean produced by those pitchers to have recorded 20-plus innings as a starter. While his low-ish arm slot (pictured below) isn’t ideal for neutralizing right-handed batters, he’s done so well enough over nine appearances (including eight starts) to record fielding-independent numbers superior to league average.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Revealing Screencap: T.J. House’s Arm Slot
Here’s a revealing screencap depicting Cleveland starter T.J. House’s relatively low arm slot:

Regarding Today’s Free Game
The author went to bed last night before Monday’s free game was announced, although the identity of same 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
Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAN	7	5	5	5	2	PIT	Edinson Volquez	19:05
Ryan Vogelsong	SF	3	6	6	2	9	PHI	Cliff Lee	19:05
Miles Mikolas*	TEX	7	4	6	3	6	NYA	Shane Greene*	19:05
John Lackey	BOS	8	2	6	5	6	TOR	Drew Hutchison	19:07
Tom Koehler	MIA	3	8	5	7	6	ATL	Julio Teheran	19:10
Mat Latos	CIN	3	3	5	6	7	MIL	Wily Peralta	20:10
T.J. House	CLE	9	7	7	4	5	MIN	Kris Johnson*	20:10
Jeremy Guthrie	KC	3	5	6	2	10	CHA	Chris Sale	20:10
Doug Fister	WAS	4	7	4	8	1	COL	Franklin Morales	20:40
Justin Verlander	DET	3	4	4	5	4	AZ	Vidal Nuno	21:40
Bud Norris	BAL	3	6	6	6	9	LAA	M. Shoemaker	22:05
Jon Niese	NYN	4	2	5	5	6	SEA	Roenis Elias	22:10

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