NERD Game Scores: Presenting All July’s Best Starter

July 27, 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.

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Most Highly Rated Game
New York NL at Milwaukee | 14:10 ET
Jacob deGrom (80.2 IP, 90 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR) faces Jimmy Nelson (16.0 IP, 115 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR). The former, as illustrated by the table below and further supported by this hyperlink to the relevant leaderboard, has recorded the best park-adjusted xFIP among all qualified starters in July so far.

#	Name	Team	G	GS	IP	TBF	K%	BB%	GB%	xFIP-
1	Jacob deGrom	Mets	4	4	26.0	103	33.0%	4.9%	47.6%	50
2	Tyson Ross	Padres	5	5	35.0	133	30.8%	3.8%	51.2%	53
3	Jon Lester	Red Sox	4	4	29.0	113	30.1%	2.7%	57.3%	55
4	Stephen Strasburg	Nationals	5	5	32.2	132	30.3%	5.3%	44.6%	58
5	Felix Hernandez	Mariners	4	4	30.0	111	32.4%	6.3%	61.8%	60

The 26-year-old deGrom faces a Milwaukee club which possesses the highest current odds of winning the NL Central division.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio or New York NL Television.

Three Brief Notes
Regarding Jake Peavy, An Undeniable Fact
Right-hander Jake Peavy, very recently acquired by San Francisco from Boston, is scheduled to debut tonight for the former of those clubs.

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Regarding Shane Greene, Two of his Virtues as a Pitcher
While Yankees right-hander Shane Greene’s virtues as a person exist largely outside the scope of a post such as this one, two of his virtues as a pitcher are clear: over his 19.0 innings as a starter, he’s recorded just a 79 xFIP- and also an average fastball velocity of 93.4 mph — both above-average figures, those, relative to this season’s population of starting pitchers.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Washington at Cincinnati, starts at 1:10pm 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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
J.A. Happ	TOR	3	6	6	2	9	NYA	Shane Greene*	13:05
Doug Fister	WAS	4	7	4	2	3	CIN	Mat Latos	13:10
Vidal Nuno	AZ	4	5	2	2	0	PHI	Rob. Hernandez	13:35
Allen Webster*	BOS	7	3	6	7	6	TB	Chris Archer	13:40
Scott Carroll	CHA	0	2	2	4	4	MIN	Yohan Pino	14:10
Danny Salazar	CLE	8	7	6	5	4	KC	Bruce Chen	14:10
Jacob Turner	MIA	7	7	7	8	6	HOU	Collin McHugh	14:10
Jacob deGrom	NYN	8	2	7	6	8	MIL	Jimmy Nelson*	14:10
Ad. Wainwright	STL	6	3	6	6	6	CHN	Kyle Hendricks*	14:20
Rick Porcello	DET	5	4	4	6	3	LAA	Hector Santiago	15:35
Miguel Gonzalez	BAL	1	6	4	4	6	SEA	Roenis Elias	16:10
Edinson Volquez	PIT	2	5	3	9	1	COL	Franklin Morales	16:10
Eric Stults	SD	4	4	5	7	6	ATL	Mike Minor	17:05
Scott Kazmir	OAK	7	8	6	3	6	TEX	Miles Mikolas	19:05
Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAN	7	5	5	5	3	SF	Jake Peavy	20:07

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