One Night Only: Hot Game Previews for June 14th
Some say the world will end in Justin, while others agree.
This edition of One Night Only contains:
1. This announcement, first of all:
Please be advised that tonight’s slate of games is one of the more — if not the most — interesting in the time that I’ve been submitting these daily previews. Only one game tonight (White Sox-Twins) has received a below-average NERD score — which, I recognize that, on account of it’s a totally made-up stat, NERD is possibly not what we’d call “entirely reliable.” Still, it seems to to a good enough job.
Six games tonight have NERD scores of 7, and another four have scores of 6. Even the games with 5s are probably more interesting than their scores might otherwise suggest, including games featuring Juan Nicasio, Charlie Blackmon, Josh Collmenter, Danny Duffy, Eric Hosmer, Michael Moustakas, Trevor Cahill, Jered Weaver, Peter Bourjos, etc.
2. Previews — some thorough-er, some not so much — for these five games: Indians at Tigers, Florida at Philadelphia, San Diego at Colorado, San Francisco at Arizona, and Kansas City at Oakland.
3. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of tonight’s games.
Indians (9) at Tigers (2) | 19:05 ET
Starting Pitchers
Indians: Justin Masterson (6)
87.2 IP, 6.26 K/9, 2.77 BB/9, 54.9% GB, 3.54 xFIP, 88 xFIP-
Tigers: Justin Verlander (9)
102.2 IP, 8.15 K/9, 2.19 BB/9, 41.1% GB, 3.16 xFIP, 79 xFIP-
This Just In
Tonight’s starters are first and second in WAR among all pitchers in the AL Central (Verlander at 2.4, Masterson at 2.0).
Why I Mention That
Just in case you were interested.
What One of Us Might Say If You’d Really Needed That Information, Stat
That you’d received it “just in the nick of time.”
What I’m Thinking Of Right Now
Another way to hilariously include the words “just in” in this preview.
What I’ll Do in the Meantime
Recall that Indians infielder-type Cord Phelps was recently promoted from Triple-A Columbus.
Regarding Cord Phelps, Part I
Phelps was the seventh-ranked prospect in the Cleveland system entering the season, per our man Marc Hulet.
Regarding Cord Phelps, Part II
Phelps’ name also appeared in these pages last October, on account of his ZiPS MLEs were among the best in Triple-A.
Regarding Cord Phelps, Part III
Phelps batted .299/.391/.488 (.368 BABIP), .380 wOBA, 138 wRC+ in 248 Triple-A plate appearances before his promotion.
Regarding Cord Phelps, Part IV
Per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, Manny Acta has stated that Phelps will get the bulk of playing time at second base versus right-handed pitchers.
Regarding Cord Phelps, Part V
ZiPS projects him for a rest-of-season line of .257/.323/.366 (.308 BABIP), .304 wOBA — which, remember that the league-average wOBA right now is .316.
Four Other Games
Florida (5) at Philadelphia (2) | 19:05 ET
The Phillies have the best left-handed starter in the National League, and it might be Cole Hamels (10).
San Diego (5) at Colorado (7) | 20:40 ET
Charlie Blackmon Watch: 27 PA, .259/.259/.259 (.280 BABIP), .260 wOBA, 50 wRC+, 0.0 WAR.
San Francisco (4) at Arizona (10) | 21:40 ET
From a recent piece on Josh Collmenter (6) by MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince:
Collmenter was late in the game before he realized how odd his technique truly is. It wasn’t until his mother recorded one of his outings around the time of his high school graduation and he watched the tape that he saw it for himself.
“I thought I just threw like everybody else until I saw that,” he said. “I didn’t know it was so atypical from how everybody else was throwing. Then going through college and pro ball, that’s kind of expounded exactly how arcane the throwing motion is.”
Kansas City (10) at Oakland (1) | 22:05 ET
This happened the other day while you were “out of town on business”:
Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you. (Pitching probables and game times from MLB.com.)
pNERD = Pitcher NERD
tNERD = Team NERD
Game = Time and Average NERD for Game
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD of 5 (or 10 for debuts)
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
I’m very confused. Not only do I see the Twins playing the Rangers, but the Rays-Tigers and Mets-Pirates both have lower than average scores too.
And by that, I mean I think you put up the wrong “Also Playing” table.