One Night Only: Game Previews, June 28th-30th

There’s no reason to fear change.

This edition of One Night Only contains:

1. Previews for six games, all of them (i.e. the previews) aimed equally at the heart and the head.

2. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every game between Tuesday and Thursday.

3. This Programming Note:

What you see here, reader, is a three-day, working-week edition of One Night Only. I understand that this (a) represents a change and also that (b) change is frightening; how-ev-er, it’s the opinion of this author that games might (I say might!) be sufficiently previewed in two weekly (i.e. a Tuesday and Friday one) editions, thus freeing same author (in this case, Carson Cistulli) to more ably divert his attentions to other baseball-related splendors*.

*Like, for example, the stupid-excellent interview with Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles that’ll be appearing at this site later today.

Because we’re looking into the future, of course, it’s possible that the slate of games for Thursday will change in the interim. As such, I will likely revisit this post over the course of its relevance — and will invite the readership to utilize the comments section to chastise me duly for failing to do same.

We’re in this together, reader. Not in a sexy way, necessarily. But also: sort of in a sexy way.

Tuesday, June 28th
Cleveland (10) at Arizona (10) | 21:40 ET
• Resolve: Daniel Hudson (10) has the slingiest of deliveries among major-league pitchers today.
• Confession: I don’t really know who the other candidates would be.
• What I’m saying is, is that Daniel Hudson’s delivery is effing slingy.
• What’s that, you’re a person who needs “video proof”?
• Abraca-effing-dabra:

Atlanta (5) at Seattle (2) | 22:10 ET
• Pitching matchup: Tommy Hanson (8) versus Michael Pineda (10).
• Some things about Pineda (with ranks among qualifiers): 12.4% SwStr (1), 95.1 mph average (2).
• Also, his strike percentage (68.4%) is third — behind only Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.
• Ideal Son-in-Law Matchup: Dustin Ackley versus…
• Versus no one, is the answer.

Wednesday, June 29th
Cincinnati (7) at Tampa Bay (5) | 12:10 ET
• What a lot of people don’t know is that James Shields (9) is actually on Kanye West’s smash-hit song “Monster.”
• Except instead of singing, Shields actually just points to the numbers from his last three starts.
• Which: 27 IP, 24 K, 4 BB, 27 GB on 65 batted-balls (41.5%), ca. 1.75 FIP, ca. 2.87 xFIP.

Los Angeles Nationals (3) at Minnesota (0) | 13:10 ET
• It’s likely (likely, I say) that the Twins NERD score will benefit greatly from the return of Joe Mauer.
• Because, regard, Twin catchers this season: .182/.230/.258.
• That’s just a 41 OPS+ relative only to other major-league catchers, per Baseball Reference.
• Oh, other thing: Rubby De La Rosa (9) pitches.
• He’s got the highest average fastball velocity (96.2 mph) of pitchers with 20-plus innings as a starter — a.k.a. a full mph higher than Justin Verlander, Felipe Paulino, and Michael Pineda.

Thursday, June 30th
Boston (7) at Philadelphia (3) | 13:05 ET
• I’d like to apologize to Chase Utley for what I said above about Dustin Ackley being the ideal son-in-law.
• But what I’d like to say is, is you’re older than me, Chase Utley, and you should stay away from my daughter, regardless of how “born” or “unborn” she is.
• Pitching matchup: Jon Lester (6) at Cole Hamels (10).

Chicago Americans (1) at Colorado (7) | 15:10 ET
• I don’t actually advocate looking directly at/into either Aaron Cook or the Chicago White Sox.
• Really, this is just an excuse to Charlie Blackmon Watch.
• Which: 67 PA, .277/.299/.292 (.305 BABIP), .286 wOBA, 68 wRC+.
• Egads, Charlie Blackmon.
• Just go out there and be a Charlie Blackmon, okay.

Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you. (Pitching probables and game times from MLB.com.)

Tuesday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Ryan Vogelsong	SF	6	3	3	1	1	CHN	Doug Davis	14:20
Josh Beckett	BOS	6	7	7	3	10	PHI	Cliff Lee	19:05
Zack Greinke	MIL	10	7	7	8	3	NYA	Freddy Garcia	19:05
R.A. Dickey	NYN	8	5	5	2	4	DET	Rick Porcello	19:05
Kyle Lohse	STL	4	4	5	3	6	BAL	Zach Britton	19:05
Kevin Correia	PIT	3	3	4	8	3	TOR	Jo-Jo Reyes	19:07
Johnny Cueto	CIN	6	7	8	5	10	TB	David Price	19:10
Barry Zito*	SF	5	3	4	1	5	CHN	Rodrigo Lopez*	20:05
C.J. Wilson	TEX	5	9	7	5	9	HOU	Jordan Lyles	20:05
Ted Lilly	LAN	6	3	5	0	5	MIN	Brian Duensing	20:10
Gavin Floyd	CHA	5	1	4	7	2	COL	Jason Hammel	20:40
Josh Tomlin	CLE	6	10	9	10	10	AZ	Daniel Hudson	21:40
Javier Vazquez	FL	3	3	4	2	6	OAK	Gio Gonzalez	22:05
Felipe Paulino	KC	9	10	6	5	2	SD	Clayton Richard	22:05
Jason Marquis	WAS	4	6	4	5	3	LAA	Joel Pineiro	22:05
Tommy Hanson	ATL	8	5	8	2	10	SEA	Michael Pineda	22:10

Wednesday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Edinson Volquez	CIN	7	7	8	5	9	TB	James Shields	12:10
Rubby De La Rosa	LAN	9	3	6	0	7	MIN	Scott Baker	13:10
Bruce Chen	KC	2	10	5	5	7	SD	Tim Stauffer	15:35
Derek Lowe	ATL	6	5	7	2	9	SEA	Fel. Hernandez	15:40
Carlos Carrasco	CLE	6	10	7	10	5	AZ	Zach Duke	15:40
John Lackey	BOS	2	7	3	3	3	PHI	Vance Worley	19:05
Shaun Marcum	MIL	7	7	6	8	5	NYA	A.J. Burnett	19:05
Chris Capuano	NYN	6	5	4	2	1	DET	Phil Coke	19:05
Chris Carpenter	STL	8	4	5	3	3	BAL	C. Jakubauskas	19:05
Jor. Zimmermann	WAS	7	6	7	5	7	LAA	Dan Haren	19:05
Paul Maholm	PIT	3	3	6	8	10	TOR	Brandon Morrow	19:07
Tim Lincecum	SF	9	3	7	1	7	CHN	Ryan Dempster	20:05
Colby Lewis	TEX	4	9	5	5	4	HOU	Brett Myers	20:05
Mark Buehrle	CHA	2	1	4	7	6	COL	Ub. Jimenez	20:40
Ricky Nolasco	FL	8	3	6	2	5	OAK	Gra. Godfrey*	22:10

Thursday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Jon Lester	BOS	6	7	7	3	10	PHI	Cole Hamels	13:05
Randy Wolf	MIL	4	7	6	8	8	NYA	CC Sabathia	13:05
Mike Pelfrey	NYN	3	5	6	2	10	DET	Justin Verlander	13:05
Matt Cain	SF	6	3	4	1	3	CHN	Carlos Zambrano	14:20
Jake Peavy	CHA	8	1	5	7	3	COL	Aaron Cook	15:10
Chris Volstad	FL	7	3	3	2	0	OAK	Guillermo Moscoso	15:35
Jake Westbrook	STL	4	4	3	3	2	BAL	Brian Matusz	19:05
Jeff Karstens	PIT	5	3	5	8	4	TOR	Carlos Villanueva	19:07
Matt Harrison	TEX	4	9	5	5	5	HOU	Wandy Rodriguez	20:05

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 Team NERD, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD of 5 (or 10 for debuts)
Pitching probables and game times from MLB.com.