NERD Game Scores: Steven Matz Inaugural Festivities

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 composnents of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
New York AL at Houston | 14:10 ET
Pineda (84.2 IP, 70 xFIP-) vs. McHugh (93.2 IP, 102 xFIP-)
As noted below, this afternoon represents the debut of left-handed Mets prospect Steven Matz. As a spectacle in itself, that’s noteworthy. That said, Matz is likely to record only about a third of the game’s pitches, and the other two-thirds — per the definitely flawed methodology utilized by the author — would appear to offer distinctly less in the way of aesthetic possibility. More likely to facilitate constant pleasure is this Yankees-Astros contest, which features two of the majors’ top-five most productive offenses, including Houston’s flawed and beautiful bande à part.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Debut: Steven Matz, LHP, New York NL
Left-hander Steven Matz is expected to make his professional debut this afternoon for the Mets following the conclusion of that club’s suspended game with Cincinnati. Matz was ranked seventh among Mets prospects this past offseason by Kiley McDaniel, and 65th among all prospects everywhere. He’s been excellent for Triple-A Las Vegas this year, producing strikeout and walk rates of 26.2% and 8.6%, respectively, over 90.1 innings. Chris Mitchell’s KATOH system for projecting major-league success based on minor-league stats places Matz among the most promising rookie-eligible pitchers in all of baseball.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Los Angeles NL at Miami, starts at 13:10 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. 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
St. Strasburg	WAS	8	4	4	1	3	PHI	Kevin Correia	13:05
Undecided	WAS	5	4	4	1	7	PHI	Severino Gonzalez	TBD
Alex Gonzalez	TEX	2	3	5	9	7	TOR	Drew Hutchison	13:07
Jeff Samardzija	CHA	8	1	5	4	6	DET	David Price	13:08
Justin Masterson	BOS	1	4	5	6	10	TB	Chris Archer	13:10
Josh Smith*	CIN	4	4	6	4	10	NYN	Steven Matz*	13:10
Zack Greinke	LAN	5	6	5	5	3	MIA	Jose Urena	13:10
Alex Wood	ATL	5	2	5	8	5	PIT	Jeff Locke	13:35
Trevor Bauer	CLE	4	6	5	6	6	BAL	Ubaldo Jimenez	13:35
Toru Murata*	CLE	5	6	5	6	2	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Tommy Milone	MIN	2	3	3	3	4	MIL	Mike Fiers	14:10
Michael Pineda	NYA	10	9	8	10	5	HOU	Collin McHugh	14:10
Felix Hernandez	SEA	7	4	5	7	3	LAA	Hector Santiago	15:35
Kyle Kendrick	COL	0	4	4	5	8	SF	Ma. Bumgarner	16:05
Jeremy Guthrie	KC	2	7	5	5	5	OAK	Jesse Chavez	16:05
Chase Anderson	AZ	3	5	3	3	3	SD	Od. Despaigne	16:10
Jason Hammel	CHN	7	6	7	4	10	STL	Carlos Martinez	20:05

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