NERD Game Scores: Return Engagement of Rubby de la Rosa

July 9, 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
Chicago AL at Boston | 19:10 ET
Chris Sale (87.1 IP, 72 xFIP-, 2.9 WAR) faces Rubby de la Rosa (32.1 IP, 75 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR). The former is the best pitcher in the baseball who also resembles a child’s stick-figure portrait of a baseball pitcher. The latter returns to the majors after having compiled a series of five starts in late-May and June over which he recorded strikeout and walk rates of 24.0% and 6.4%, respectively, while also producing an above-average ground-ball rate and while also-also producing one of the league’s highest average fastball velocities.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.

Three Brief Notes
Regarding Brandon McCarthy, What He’s Doing Tonight
Acquired from Arizona over the weekend in exchange for Vidal Nuno, right-hander Brandon McCarthy makes his debut for the New York Americans at Cleveland tonight. As illustrated by the table below, McCarthy has thus far recorded the greatest difference between his park-adjusted ERA and xFIP among qualified major-league pitchers.

#	Name	Team	IP	ERA-	xFIP-	Diff
1	Brandon McCarthy	—	109.2	131	78	53
2	Ricky Nolasco	Twins	103.2	151	107	44
3	Justin Masterson	Indians	98.0	146	104	42
4	Stephen Strasburg	Nationals	119.1	95	67	28
5	Wade Miley	D-backs	120.0	116	88	28

Regarding a Likely and Notable Major-League Debut
Promoted to the parent club in place of Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney (who’s on paternity leave), prospect Arismendy Alcantara is expected to make his major-league debut tonight at Cincinnati. Alcantara was ranked fifth among Cubs prospects this offseason by Marc Hulet and has produced entirely respectable offensive numbers as just a 22-year-old at Triple-A this year.

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Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Toronto at Anaheim, starts at 3:35pm 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
Zack Greinke	LAN	8	5	7	4	8	DET	Max Scherzer	13:08
Eric Stults	SD	3	4	5	9	5	COL	Jair Jurrjens*	15:10
Marcus Stroman	TOR	8	6	6	6	5	LAA	C.J. Wilson	15:35
Nathan Eovaldi	MIA	7	7	5	6	2	AZ	Josh Collmenter	15:40
Brand. McCarthy	NYA	9	3	8	7	8	CLE	Josh Tomlin	19:05
Doug Fister	WAS	5	6	5	6	3	BAL	Bud Norris	19:05
Ervin Santana	ATL	9	7	5	2	2	NYN	Dillon Gee	19:10
Dallas Beeler*	CHN	7	5	6	3	5	CIN	Alfredo Simon	19:10
Chris Sale	CHA	10	2	8	2	10	BOS	Rubby de la Rosa	19:10
Yordano Ventura	KC	10	5	8	6	7	TB	Alex Cobb	19:10
Dallas Keuchel	HOU	8	8	7	4	7	TEX	Yu Darvish	20:05
Rob. Hernandez	PHI	0	2	3	6	4	MIL	Kyle Lohse	20:10
Brand. Cumpton	PIT	6	4	5	3	4	STL	Lance Lynn	20:15
Kyle Gibson	MIN	3	3	4	5	6	SEA	Roenis Elias	22:10
Jason Hammel	OAK	7	7	6	5	4	SF	Matt Cain	22:15

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