One Night Only: Game Previews, July 19th-21nd

This inkblot is giving two thumbs up.

This edition of One Night Only contains:

1. All of the news that’s fit to print, if by “news” you mean “game previews” and by “print” you mean “publish on the internet or whatever.”

2. Our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for every one of this mid-week’s games.

3. JeterYankeesMcCourtScandalSteroidsStrauss-KahnEconomyBadonkadonk.

Tuesday, July 19th
Philadelphia (3) at Chicago Nationals (0) | 20:05 ET
• Reader: I’m angry at you and probably hate you, too, because Cliff Lee’s only got a 9, and not a 10, in terms of NERD score.
• Author: Well, he’s only like 0.06 away from 10. Also, whatever: If you like Cliff Lee, watch Cliff Lee. It’s a free country.
• Reader: Your laissez-faire attitude is a discredit to your totally made-up stat.
• Answer: Your laissez-fair face is a discredit to your, uh, face.
• Reader: Now I’m angrier and even more hate-y.

Los Angeles Nationals (2) at San Francisco (5) | 22:15 ET
• Without looking, guess who’s younger: Rubby De La Rosa (8) or Madison Bumgarner (10).
• Without thinking, answer this: Is that first question a trick question or just a regular type of question?
• Go.

Wednesday, July 20th
Los Angeles Nationals (2) at San Francisco (5) | 15:45 ET
• Science tells us that, at this moment, Clayton Kershaw (10) is second only to Zack Greinke in terms of interestingness.
• Interesting-osity?
• Charisma? Personal magnetism? Allure?

Texas (8) at Los Angeles Americans (8) | 22:05 ET
• Per Cool Standings, Texas has a 73.2% chance of making the postseason; Los Angeles, 29.0%.
• Per Baseball Prospectus, those numbers are 91.3% and 8.6%, respectively.
• Trick Knee is non-commital at this this juncture.

Thursday, July 21st
New York Americans (5) at Tampa Bay (5) | 19:10 ET
• Brett Gardner and Ben Zobrist are possibly the best players (in terms of present talent) on their respective teams: discuss.
• Brett Gardner and Ben Zobrist are paid $550K and — oh, I’d actually forgotten that Zobrist signed an extension (4 years/$18M) last year.
• Zobrist’s approximate value since signing that deal: ca. $41M.

Milwaukee (9) at Arizona (9) | 21:40 ET
• Basically all of Zack Greinke’s (10) starts are must-watch affairs now.
• For one thing, the Brewers are both (a) inherently interesting and (b) very much in the middle of a playoff race.
• For another thing: 2.13 xFIP, 2.17 SIERA, 5.04 ERA?!?

Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you.

Tuesday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Kyle Weiland*	BOS	5	5	4	3	4	BAL	Jeremy Guthrie	19:05
Mike Leake	CIN	7	8	6	7	3	PIT	James McDonald	19:05
Guillermo Moscoso	OAK	0	2	3	6	5	DET	Rick Porcello	19:05
Michael Pineda	SEA	10	2	7	6	5	TOR	Brett Cecil	19:07
Bartolo Colon	NYA	7	5	5	5	3	TB	Jeremy Hellickson	19:10
Tim Stauffer	SD	6	3	6	3	9	FL	Anibal Sanchez	19:10
Kyle Lohse	STL	4	7	5	5	4	NYN	Dillon Gee	19:10
Cliff Lee	PHI	9	3	8	0	10	CHN	Matt Garza	20:05
Jordan Zimmermann	WAS	7	4	4	4	2	HOU	J.A. Happ	20:05
Jake Peavy	CHA	7	5	6	6	6	KC	Danny Duffy	20:10
Justin Masterson	CLE	6	9	5	0	4	MIN	Francisco Liriano	20:10
Brandon Beachy	ATL	10	5	7	5	6	COL	Ubaldo Jimenez	20:40
Yovani Gallardo	MIL	7	9	6	9	2	AZ	Barry Enright	21:40
Alexi Ogando	TEX	7	8	5	8	2	LAA	Tyler Chatwood	22:05
Rubby De La Rosa	LAN	8	2	8	5	10	SF	Mad. Bumgarner	22:15

Wednesday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Andrew Miller	BOS	1	5	3	3	4	BAL	Jake Arrieta	12:35
Johnny Cueto	CIN	6	8	6	7	5	PIT	Jeff Karstens	12:35
Josh Tomlin	CLE	5	9	4	0	3	MIN	Nick Blackburn	13:10
Livan Hernandez	WAS	3	4	4	4	5	HOU	Brett Myers	14:05
Vance Worley	PHI	4	3	5	0	7	CHN	Ryan Dempster	14:20
Clayton Kershaw	LAN	10	2	8	5	8	SF	Tim Lincecum	15:45
Brandon McCarthy	OAK	7	2	7	6	10	DET	Duane Below*	19:05
Jason Vargas	SEA	4	2	6	6	10	TOR	Brandon Morrow	19:07
Freddy Garcia	NYA	3	5	6	5	10	TB	David Price	19:10
Aaron Harang	SD	4	3	5	3	7	FL	Ricky Nolasco	19:10
Kyle McClellan	STL	3	7	6	5	8	NYN	R.A. Dickey	19:10
John Danks	CHA	5	5	4	6	2	KC	Bruce Chen	20:10
Tim Hudson	ATL	6	5	7	5	8	COL	Juan Nicasio	20:40
Chris Narveson	MIL	6	9	5	9	2	AZ	Joe Saunders	21:40
Derek Holland	TEX	7	8	8	8	8	LAA	Dan Haren	22:05

Thursday:

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Dustin Moseley	SD	2	3	3	3	4	FL	Javier Vazquez	12:10
Jake Westbrook	STL	4	7	6	5	8	NYN	Jonathon Niese	12:10
Doug Fister	SEA	5	2	5	6	6	TOR	Ricky Romero	12:37
Tommy Hanson	ATL	8	5	7	5	6	COL	Jhoulys Chacin	15:10
C.J. Wilson	TEX	5	8	6	8	6	LAA	Jered Weaver	15:35
CC Sabathia	NYA	9	5	8	5	9	TB	James Shields	19:10
Justin Verlander	DET	10	6	6	0	4	MIN	Carl Pavano	20:10
Zack Greinke	MIL	10	9	8	9	6	AZ	Ian Kennedy	21:40

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.