NERD Game Scores: Some Consequence in Houston

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
Los Angeles at Houston | 20:10 ET
Wilson (128.0 IP, 103 xFIP-) vs. McHugh (127.0 IP, 100 xFIP-)
The entertainment value provided by a text or performance is typically a direct result of the stakes which face the characters in that same text/performance. For example: while profound in its own way, the portion of a bar mitzvah during which the young man chants his haftorah is typically an exercise in abject boredom. Here one finds a 13-year-old who, rather than awkwardly chanting Hebrew in front of his bubbe, would probably much rather be awkwardly doing something else. Were that same young man, however, to receive electric shocks of increasing intensity for every pronunciation error he made — this would facilitate much greater entertainment for those gathered. Would it be horrifying? Yes. But, as everything everywhere proves, horrifying and compelling are not mutually exclusive.

For the duration of this series, the Angels and Astros will resemble, in no small part, a young boy who, while becoming a man, is also becoming unconscious due to all the aforementioned electric shocks. The clubs are currently separated by a mere game atop the AL West and only a handful of playoff-odds percentage points. The consequences, if not tremendous, at least resemble something approaching tremendous.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Perpetually Looping Video: Zack Godley’s Two-Seamer.
Right-hander

Zack Godley, who starts tonight for Arizona, recorded a 7:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio against 21 batters over 6.0 innings in his major-league debut for the D-backs last Thursday (box). What follows is footage documenting one of those strikeouts — versus Adam Lind by way of a 92 mph two-seamer with considerable movement.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the same Angel and Astro clubs cited above, 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
Julio Teheran	ATL	5	3	5	6	6	BAL	Ubaldo Jimenez	19:05
Adam Morgan	PHI	2	2	5	10	5	TOR	Felix Doubront	19:07
Jeff Samardzija	CHA	6	1	3	3	3	BOS	Wade Miley	19:10
David Price	DET	7	3	5	3	6	TB	Jake Odorizzi	19:10
Chris Young	KC	1	4	4	4	6	CLE	Trevor Bauer	19:10
James Shields	SD	7	3	7	7	10	NYN	No. Syndergaard	19:10
Jo. Zimmermann	WAS	6	8	7	5	10	MIA	Jose Fernandez	19:10
Yohan Flande*	COL	5	4	5	5	4	CHN	Dallas Beeler*	20:05
Chris Capuano	NYA	7	7	5	3	1	TEX	Martin Perez	20:05
C.J. Wilson	LAA	3	8	7	10	5	HOU	Collin McHugh	20:10
Charlie Morton	PIT	5	8	5	4	2	MIN	Mike Pelfrey	20:10
Mike Leake	CIN	6	3	5	3	7	STL	Jaime Garcia	20:15
Zack Godley*	AZ	10	5	6	3	7	SEA	Hisashi Iwakuma	22:10
Sonny Gray	OAK	7	4	7	9	6	LAN	Brett Anderson	22:10
Wily Peralta	MIL	5	3	5	8	4	SF	Matt Cain	22:15

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