NERD Game Scores: Presenting Jon Lester, Oakland Athletic

August 2, 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
Kansas City at Oakland | 16:05 ET
Jason Vargas (125.0 IP, 107 xFIP-, 1.4 WAR) faces Jon Lester (143.0 IP, 79 xFIP-, 4.5 WAR). While regarded both far and also wide as infallible, the NERD scores utilized here for the purposes of determining the day’s most compelling games do not, as a practice, account for the debut of a talented pitcher for the team to which he’s been recently been traded at the deadline. As such, Jon Lester’s debut for Oakland wouldn’t ordinarily be distinguished as today’s most highly rated game. Using the sort of Discretion, however, which has earned him the attention of many women and the envy of just as many men, the author has applied an adjustment to this game of +2 points — a sum which, coincidentally or not, earns it the day’s top score.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Other Notable Debut: Justin Masterson for St. Louis
Right-hander Justin Masterson, traded to St. Louis at the deadline, is expected to make his debut for that club this evening against division rival (and division-leading) Milwaukee.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Los Angeles AL at Tampa Bay, starts at 7:10pm ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

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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
Jason Vargas	KC	4	4	8	8	7	OAK	Jon Lester	16:05
Shane Greene	NYA	7	2	6	3	6	BOS	Allen Webster*	16:05
A.J. Burnett	PHI	3	2	6	7	9	WAS	J. Zimmermann	19:05
James Paxton*	SEA	7	4	4	6	1	BAL	Miguel Gonzalez	19:05
Miles Mikolas	TEX	3	4	6	7	8	CLE	T.J. House	19:05
Tyler Matzek	COL	4	8	5	4	5	DET	Rick Porcello	19:08
Homer Bailey	CIN	7	1	7	7	8	MIA	Nathan Eovaldi	19:10
C.J. Wilson	LAA	5	6	5	7	5	TB	Chris Archer	19:10
Yohan Pino	MIN	4	4	3	3	1	CHA	Scott Carroll	19:10
Jake Peavy	SF	3	5	5	2	7	NYN	Jacob deGrom	19:10
R.A. Dickey	TOR	10	5	7	9	3	HOU	Br. Oberholtzer	19:10
Kyle Lohse	MIL	4	6	5	3	5	STL	Justin Masterson	19:15
Vance Worley	PIT	5	6	5	5	5	AZ	Chase Anderson	20:10
Ervin Santana	ATL	8	6	7	5	7	SD	Ian Kennedy	20:40
Tsuyoshi Wada*	CHN	6	6	6	5	7	LAN	Hyun-Jin Ryu	21:10

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