One Night Only: Game Previews for September 20th
Topical, science-y.
Tampa Bay (7) at New York AL (10) | 19:05 ET
A Fact Regarding the Tampa Bay Rays
Entering play Monday, the Tampa Bay Rays are a mere two games behind Boston in the AL Wild Card race.
A Second Fact Regarding the Tampa Bays Rays
Entering play Monday, the Tampa Bay Rays have an 8.9% chance of making the playoffs, per Cool Standings.
In Terms of Yankee Pitching
In terms of Yankee pitching, Ivan Nova (151.1 IP, 102 xFIP-) is pitching for the Yankees.
Regarding Ivan Nova
Per the data from Baseball Info Solutions, Nova’s changeup usage is down from 2010 (10.6% to 4.6%), but his slider usage is up (2.1% to 11.2%).
Regarding Ivan Nova, Part II
Per the data from Pitch F/x, Nova’s changeup usage is only slightly down (9.9% to 7.9 %), but his slider (0.0% to 2.9%) and cutter (0.0% to 2.6%) usage has increased.
Carson Cistulli’s Guess
Carson Cistulli’s guess is that Pitch F/x is classifying Nova’s new slider as sometimes a slider and, other times, a cutter.
Carson Cistulli’s Second Guess
Carson Cistulli’s second guess is frequently (a) directed at his own self and (b) debilitating.
MLB.TV Audio Feed: Rays Television.
Two Other Games
Baltimore (2) at Boston (9) | 19:10 ET
In which the Red Sox are like, “I hope Erik Bedard doesn’t break in half today.”
MLB.TV Audio Feed: Red Sox Television.
San Francisco (3) at Los Angeles NL (4) | 22:10 ET
In which Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw you-know-what in front of you-know-who.
MLB.TV Audio Feed: Dodgers 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 5.5.
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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Floyd | CHA | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | CLE | Fausto Carmona | 13:05 |
| Ross Detwiler | WAS | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | PHI | Kyle Kendrick | 13:05 |
| Dylan Axelrod* | CHA | 10 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 | CLE | Zach McAllister* | 19:05 |
| Wade Davis | TB | 2 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 5 | NYA | Ivan Nova | 19:05 |
| Tom Milone* | WAS | 8 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 10 | PHI | Cliff Lee | 19:05 |
| Joel Pineiro | LAA | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | TOR | Brett Cecil | 19:07 |
| Randall Delgado | ATL | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | FL | Anibal Sanchez | 19:10 |
| Rick VandenHurk* | BAL | 6 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 6 | BOS | Erik Bedard | 19:10 |
| Bud Norris | HOU | 7 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | CIN | Homer Bailey | 19:10 |
| Shaun Marcum | MIL | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | CHN | Randy Wells | 20:05 |
| Brad Penny | DET | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 10 | KC | Luis Mendoza* | 20:10 |
| Jason Vargas | SEA | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | MIN | Liam Hendriks | 20:10 |
| Mike Pelfrey | NYN | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 8 | STL | Edwin Jackson | 20:15 |
| Mat Latos | SD | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | COL | Jhoulys Chacin | 20:40 |
| Charlie Morton | PIT | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 8 | AZ | Daniel Hudson | 21:40 |
| Derek Holland | TEX | 7 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 8 | OAK | Rich Harden | 22:05 |
| Tim Lincecum | SF | 8 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 10 | LAN | Clayton Kershaw | 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.
though even if you’re right about Pitch F/x, that still leaves 5.7% of Baseball Info’s “sliders” unexplained. maybe they think sometimes he’s throwing small hamburgers.
Might it be that he’s throwing that best named of all pitches, the slutter?
Batters just love to hammer a good slutter.