One Night Only: Hot Game Previews for June 21st
This is happening again.
This edition of One Night Only contains:
1. An expanded preview for the big, big Houston-Texas match-up.
2. Brief, but totally charming, previews for these games: Colorado at Cleveland, New York (AL) at Cincinnati, and Philadelphia at St. Louis.
3. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of tonight’s games — in a sweet new, slightly more interactive table.
Houston (5) at Texas (8) | 20:05 ET
Starting Pitchers
Astros: Jordan Lyles (9)
23.0 IP, 7.83 K/9, 1.57 BB/9, 37.3% GB, 3.49 xFIP, 93 xFIP-
Rangers: C.J. Wilson (5)
104.0 IP, 8.05 K/9, 3.12 BB/9, 47.6% GGB, 3.43 xFIP, 86 xFIP-
Regarding Jordan Lyles, His High NERD Score
Jordan Lyles’ high score is due to two factors predominantly: his age and his strike-throwing thus far.
Regarding Jordan Lyles, His Age
At 20, Lyles is the youngest pitcher in the majors with 20-plus innings as a starter.
Regarding Some Other Pitchers, Their Ages
Here are the pitchers who’re 21 years old: Madison Bumgarner, Tyler Chatwood.
And 22: Michael Pineda, Rick Porcello, Danny Duffy.
Regarding How Many 23-Year-Olds There Are
Fifteen.
A Joke That’s Related, But Only Very Slightly, To This Discussion
At the 0:56 mark or so:
Regarding How Suitable That Video Is for Work
Mostly, if not entirely, suitable. (There’s an Eff Bomb at the 0:52 mark.)
Regarding Jordan Lyles, His Strike-Throwing
About 66% of Jordan Lyles’ pitches have been thrown for strikes — this, relative to the starters’ average of just under 63%.
What Constitutes “Good” in Terms of Strike-Throwing
Roy Halladay: 69.3%
What Constitutes “Not So Good” in Terms of Strike-Throwing
Kyle Drabek: 54.6%.
In Terms of the Astros, Player That Aren’t Depressing
Here are the players for the Astros that definitely aren’t depressing: more than you’re probably assuming.
Three Other Games
Colorado (7) at Cleveland (10) | 19:05 ET
Charlie Blackmon Watch: 50 PA, .354/.380/.375 (.378 BABIP), .365 wOBA, 122 wRC+, 4.0% BB, 6.3% K.
New York Americans (7) at Cincinnati (6) | 19:10 ET
Former outfielder Brian Gordon made his major-league pitching debut last week and acquitted himself decently: 5.1 IP, 26 TBF, 3 K, 3 BB, 5 GB on 18 batted-balls (27.8%).
Philadelphia (3) St. Louis (5) | 20:15 ET
Roy Halladay (10) is pitching to an Albert Pujols-less Cardinal team!
Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you. (Pitching probables and game times from MLB.com.)
| Sc. | Away Pitcher | Sc. | Aw. | Hm. | Sc. | Home Pitcher | Sc. | Time | Gm. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Jeremy Guthrie | 3 | BAL | v. | PIT | 3 | Jam. McDonald | 2 | 19:05 | 3 |
| 7 | Jhoulys Chacin | 7 | COL | v. | CLE | 10 | Mitch Talbot | 1 | 19:05 | 5 |
| 5 | Doug Fister | 3 | SEA | v. | WAS | 6 | Livan Hernandez | 2 | 19:05 | 4 |
| 6 | Ervin Santana | 5 | LAA | v. | FL | 4 | Javier Vazquez | 2 | 19:10 | 4 |
| 5 | Brian Gordon* | 7 | NYA | v. | CIN | 6 | Johnny Cueto | 6 | 19:10 | 6 |
| 1 | Josh Outman | 2 | OAK | v. | NYN | 5 | Dillon Gee | 6 | 19:10 | 4 |
| 7 | Mat Latos | 5 | SD | v. | BOS | 7 | Alfredo Aceves* | 5 | 19:10 | 6 |
| 5 | Zach Stewart* | 8 | TOR | v. | ATL | 7 | Mike Minor | 5 | 19:10 | 6 |
| 9 | Jordan Lyles | 5 | HOU | v. | TEX | 8 | C.J. Wilson | 5 | 20:05 | 7 |
| 2 | Joe Saunders | 10 | AZ | v. | KC | 10 | Luke Hochevar | 4 | 20:10 | 5 |
| 10 | Matt Garza | 0 | CHN | v. | CHA | 1 | Mark Buehrle | 2 | 20:10 | 5 |
| 3 | Jer. Hellickson | 6 | TB | v. | MIL | 8 | Zack Greinke | 5 | 20:10 | 5 |
| 10 | Roy Halladay | 3 | PHI | v. | STL | 5 | Kyle McClellan | 3 | 20:15 | 6 |
| 6 | Max Scherzer | 2 | DET | v. | LAN | 2 | Chad Billingsley | 7 | 22:10 | 5 |
| 3 | Carl Pavano | 0 | MIN | v. | SF | 4 | Mad. Bumgarner | 8 | 22:15 | 5 |
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.
Table’s borked again, unless Boston is hosting both the Padres and Rays 😛
Yes. Super-borked.
Fixed now.
Or is it?!?
(It is. Hopefully.)
I’m not sure that I understand. Why can I click the names in the table? This is madness!
You’ve got Boston listed twice. Tampa Bay is playing at *Milwaukee* tonight.
Can we get NERD into the glossary? I never remember all the components.
Also, is there any way to assign Brian Gordon a provisional NERD score?
the linked entry says for tnerd:
“tNERD is the same thing, but for teams (essentially, everything minus a team’s starting pitchers).”
which is… not very unhelpful.
Noted. I’ll start linking to the original posts below the table. Easy enough to do.
Thanks.
I thought Greinke was starting tonight?
Tighten those belts, Nats, because Twisted Fister is about to rock your pants off.
Gotta be a way to color code the NERD scores or something, I have to keep glancing at the arrows to see if the number applies to the pitcher or the team.
Don’t entirely disagree with you. Am trying to negotiate a lack of coding skills and the max width of the page.
Will probably keep it like this for the week, at least, just to see how it goes.
A thought: don’t put a column marker between an entry an its t/p NERD score. Do, i.e.”5 Jeremy Guthrie” in a single left aligned column, perhaps throwing in some more spaces or some punctuation between the score and the name.
This will work so long as you left align the score and name, or right align the score and name when the score is after. Left align: “3 BAL” then right align “PIT 3”.
But since all the team ones are three letters, you could also just center “3 BAL vs. PIT 3” and it will look like columns in a monospaced font.
Braves-Jays isn’t listed at all.
Or…it is listed. I’m realizing it’s more listed than not listed at all.
Why does Aceves have an asterisk?
Fewer than 20 IP as a starter.
Now, whenever I see James McDonald pitching, I’m going to think “Jam McDonald.” It would be nice if the site layout were more amenable to the table, wouldn’t it?
And miss the opportunity to see Jam McDonald v. Mad Bumgarner? No way, dude. It’s way cooler when they sound like old school WWF wrestlers.
It’s enough to make a guy change his first name to Powell.
I like NERD scores but I think it gives too much weight to age in the case of Pitcher NERD score. Just my opinion.
I love the image with which you started this post. That’s all.
Is Dillon Gee crashing now. Was he lucky getting those early wins.
Why is Zack Greinke’s nerd score a 5? Weeks past it has been a 10.
After tonight, I assume it will be going back up.
That entry got all messed up today. Pretty sure he’s a 10. My B.