One Night Only: Game Previews, Weekend of July 23rd
The author’s heart, under the influence of Felipe Paulino’s player page.
This edition of One Night Only contains:
1. Expanded previews for five weekend games: San Diego at Philadelphia on Friday, St. Louis at Pittsburgh and Chicago AL at Cleveland on Saturday, and Tampa Bay at Kansas City and Atlanta at Cincinnati on Sunday.
2. Our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for every one of this weekend’s games.
3. Feelings and/or emotions.
Friday, July 21st
San Diego (3) at Philadelphia (2) | 19:05 ET
You’ll already know Cole Hamels from his role as One of the Two Best National League Lefties. Perhaps you’re less aware, though, of what Cory Luebke — stellar for much of the year out of the bullpen — has done since joining the rotation. Allow Carson Cistulli to be your eyes and ears and, uh, guy who looks up numbers on the internet: 4GS, 24.0 IP, 26 K, 4 BB, 2 HR. That’s about a 2.50 FIP… Tonight marks giant person Kyle Blanks’s return to the major leagues after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, although signs point to him not starting Friday.
Saturday, July 22nd
St. Louis (7) at Pittsburgh (7) | 19:05 ET
Pittsburgh will not be behind St. Louis in the standings when play begins today.
Chicago Americans (4) at Cleveland (9) | 19:05 ET
The Indians recalled top prospect, second baseman Jason Kipnis before play on Friday. Prospect maven Marc Hulet ranked Kipnis as the third-overall prospect in the Cleveland system before the start of the season. As a 24-year-old at Triple-A Columbus, Kipnis slashed .281/.363/.485 (.320 BABIP) in 393 plate appearances. As I write these words, he’s slated to start on Friday, which means Saturday’s a real possibility, too.
Sunday, July 23rd
Tampa Bay (5) at Kansas City (6) | 14:10 ET
Felipe Paulino (55.0 IP, 8.67 K/9, 2.13 BB/9, 48.7% GB, 78 xFIP-) continues to set the author’s heart aflutter… Also setting the author’s heart aflutter is the Royals lineup (or, their Friday lineup, anyway), were Jeff Francouer to be removed:
1. Alex Gordon (L) LF
2. Melky Cabrera (S) CF
3. Billy Butler (R) DH
4. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B
5. Jeff Francoeur (R) RF
6. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B
7. Matt Treanor (R) C
8. Chris Getz (L) 2B
9. Alcides Escobar (R) SS
Atlanta (5) at Cincinnati (7) | 20:05 ET
Some cursory research reveals something I’m embarrassed not to have known — namely, that Dontrelle Willis was never really that good. In only one of his seasons with Florida did he post an xFIP- (that is, xFIP relative to league average, where lower is better) below 90. That was in 2005, when he threw 236.1 innings and was worth 6.2 WAR. This isn’t to discredit the fact that was obviously a pleasure to watch, but rather merely to note that the author was surprised to find these things out… Brandon Beachy (72.0 IP, 10.13 K/9, 2.50 BB/9, 29.2% GB, 87 xFIP-) pitches for Atlanta and is a joy to watch, but less so with Cincinnati’s poor camera angle.
Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you.
Friday:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bud Norris | HOU | 8 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | CHN | Carlos Zambrano | 14:20 |
| Ervin Santana | LAA | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | BAL | Alfredo Simon* | 19:05 |
| Gavin Floyd | CHA | 5 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 7 | CLE | Carlos Carrasco | 19:05 |
| Trevor Cahill | OAK | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | NYA | Phil Hughes | 19:05 |
| Cory Luebke | SD | 10 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 9 | PHI | Cole Hamels | 19:05 |
| Chris Carpenter | STL | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | PIT | Paul Maholm | 19:05 |
| Jair Jurrjens | ATL | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | CIN | Bronson Arroyo | 19:10 |
| Mike Pelfrey | NYN | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 7 | FL | Chris Volstad | 19:10 |
| Felix Hernandez | SEA | 9 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | BOS | John Lackey | 19:10 |
| Jo-Jo Reyes | TOR | 3 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 4 | TEX | Colby Lewis | 20:05 |
| Max Scherzer | DET | 7 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 4 | MIN | Brian Duensing | 20:10 |
| Wade Davis | TB | 0 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | KC | Luke Hochevar | 20:10 |
| Aaron Cook | COL | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 8 | AZ | Daniel Hudson | 21:40 |
| John Lannan | WAS | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | LAN | Hiroki Kuroda | 22:10 |
| Shaun Marcum | MIL | 6 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 7 | SF | Matt Cain | 22:15 |
Saturday:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wandy Rodriguez | HOU | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | CHN | Randy Wells | 13:05 |
| Rich Harden* | OAK | 7 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | NYA | A.J. Burnett | 13:05 |
| Derek Lowe | ATL | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | CIN | Homer Bailey | 16:10 |
| Brad Penny | DET | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 7 | MIN | Scott Baker | 16:10 |
| Mat Latos | SD | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | PHI | Kyle Kendrick | 16:10 |
| Joel Pineiro | LAA | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 5 | BAL | Brad Bergesen | 19:05 |
| Edwin Jackson | CHA | 8 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 5 | CLE | David Huff* | 19:05 |
| Jaime Garcia | STL | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | PIT | Kevin Correia | 19:05 |
| Chris Capuano | NYN | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | FL | Clay Hensley* | 19:10 |
| Blake Beavan | SEA | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | BOS | Josh Beckett | 19:10 |
| Jeff Niemann | TB | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | KC | Jeff Francis | 19:10 |
| Carlos Villanueva | TOR | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 5 | TEX | Matt Harrison | 20:05 |
| Jason Hammel | COL | 2 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 6 | AZ | Josh Collmenter | 20:10 |
| Randy Wolf | MIL | 3 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 5 | SF | Ryan Vogelsong | 21:05 |
| Tom Gorzelanny | WAS | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | LAN | Ted Lilly | 22:10 |
Sunday:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philip Humber | CHA | 4 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 7 | CLE | Justin Masterson | 13:05 |
| Gio Gonzalez | OAK | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 7 | NYA | Bartolo Colon | 13:05 |
| Dillon Gee | NYN | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 9 | FL | Anibal Sanchez | 13:10 |
| Tyler Chatwood | LAA | 2 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 4 | BAL | Jeremy Guthrie | 13:35 |
| Tim Stauffer | SD | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 10 | PHI | Roy Halladay | 13:35 |
| Michael Pineda | SEA | 10 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | BOS | Tim Wakefield | 13:35 |
| Kyle Lohse | STL | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | PIT | Charlie Morton | 13:35 |
| Alex Cobb | TB | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 10 | KC | Felipe Paulino | 14:10 |
| Jordan Lyles | HOU | 7 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 10 | CHN | Matt Garza | 14:20 |
| Yovani Gallardo | MIL | 7 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 10 | SF | Madison Bumgarner | 16:05 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | COL | 7 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 7 | AZ | Undecided | 16:10 |
| Rick Porcello | DET | 5 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | MIN | Francisco Liriano | 16:10 |
| Jason Marquis | WAS | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | LAN | Chad Billingsley | 16:10 |
| Brandon Beachy | ATL | 9 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | CIN | Dontrelle Willis* | 20:05 |
| Brett Cecil | TOR | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 | TEX | Alexi Ogando | 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 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.
Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Is it just a coincidence that, for the Nats-Dodgers series this weekend, every WAS pitcher is scored a 4 and every LAD pitcher is scored a 6? The numbers for each game are identical.