One Night Only: Game Previews for September 15th

by
September 15, 2011


Jeremy Hellickson: already angry at you.

Tampa Bay (7) at Boston (10) | 19:10 ET
Brass Tacks
In terms of why this game is interesting, it’s because these two teams begin a four-game series today with one team (the Rays) exactly four games behind the other (the Red Sox) in the AL Wild Card race.

A Note Regarding Jeremy Hellickson
Jeremy Hellickson, who’s starting tonight for Tampa Bay, entered the season as one of the game’s most interesting prospects, thanks to his command and excellent changeup.

A Second Note Regarding Jeremy Hellickson
Hellickson’s season has maybe been a bit disappointing in light of his pedigree. Line: 170.1 IP, 15.6% K, 8.5% BB, 33.8% GB, 4.48 SIERA, 4.57 xFIP, 114 xFIP-.

A Third Note Regarding Jeremy Hellickson
Hellickson has faced 56 total batters over the last two games and struck out only three of them.

A Fourth Note Regarding Jeremy Hellickson
The author would mention none of this to Hellickson himself, owing to how the latter appears to be constantly annoyed and is almost definitely carrying a shiv of some description.

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MLB.TV Audio Feed: Red Sox Television.

Alterna-Game
Washington (6) at New York NL (4) | 13:10 ET
Rookies Tom Milone and Chris Schwinden, both noted for pitching above their stuff, make their third and second major-league starts tonight, respectively. (And, yes, that’s the same Tom Milone who’s game-worn and autographed hat you can buy from Latino night on August 8th, 2011 at at Alliance Bank Stadium on August 8, 2011 that’s green, yellow, and red.)

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Nationals or Mets Television.

Also Playing
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.2.

The following Game Scores include the new and improved playoff-odds adjustment, which you can learn about in your brain by clicking here.

Away SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP Home Time
Tom Milone* WAS 8 6 6 4 8 NYN Chris Schwinden* 13:10
Anibal Sanchez FL 9 8 5 3 2 PHI Kyle Kendrick 14:35
Randy Wells CHN 3 4 4 5 7 CIN Homer Bailey 19:10
Jeremy Hellickson TB 3 7 8 10 7 BOS Kyle Weiland* 19:10
Alex Sanabia* FL 5 8 6 3 10 PHI Cliff Lee 19:35
Fausto Carmona CLE 6 4 7 8 6 TEX Alexi Ogando 20:05
Mark Buehrle CHA 3 2 3 10 4 KC Jeff Francis 20:10
Ryan Vogelsong SF 5 3 4 6 5 COL Jhoulys Chacin 20:40
Max Scherzer DET 7 2 5 1 8 OAK Brandon McCarthy 22:05
Ross Ohlendorf PIT 4 5 4 4 6 LAN Dana Eveland* 22:10

NERD represents an attempt to anticipate the watchability of a game for the baseballing enthusiast.
To learn more about Pitcher NERD, click here and scroll down a little.
To learn more about latest Team NERD, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.





 

Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

5 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Eric
14 years ago

Great work here

0
Yirmiyahu
14 years ago

It’s hard to characterize a rookie with a 2.96 ERA in 170.1 innings (and counting) as a disappointment. I know his xFIP ain’t great, but isn’t he the AL Rookie of the Year favorite?

0
garp
14 years ago
Reply to  Yirmiyahu

you’d think. i wonder if trumbo’s homers push him over the top? i like hellboy for it though.

1
Yirmiyahu
14 years ago
Reply to  garp

But that’s all that he has going for him. Won’t Ackley get move votes than Trumbo? How do you vote for a 1Bman with a .256 AVG and .295 OBP?

There’s also Pineda. Peripherals aside, I figure he’ll get less attention than Hellickson based solely on the 0.75 difference in ERA.

1
Joe from Iowa
14 years ago

We in Iowa (along with Hellickson) don’t get involved with Shivving.

To me Hellickson always seems calm and never angry.

1