One Night Only: Hot Game Previews for June 22nd
A puppet on the hand is equivalent to no specific number in the bush.
This edition of One Night Only contains:
1. An expanded preview for tonight’s biggest of events: Tampa Bay at Milwaukee.
2. Brief, but no less charming, previews for these games: Toronto at Atlanta, Colorado at Cleveland, and Philadelphia at St. Louis.
3. Yet another experimental design for the day’s slate of games — including, as always, very proprietary Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of tonight’s games.
Tampa Bay (5) at Milwaukee (8) | 14:10 ET
Starting Pitchers
Rays: David Price (10)
102.1 IP, 8.27 K/9, 1.76 BB/9, 41.6% GB, 3.09 xFIP, 78 xFIP-
Brewers: Shaun Marcum (7)
91.2 IP, 8.25 K/9, 2.36 BB/9, 36.3% GB, 3.30 xFIP, 88 xFIP-
Regarding David Price, His xFIP-
David Price’s 78 xFIP- is ninth among 111 qualified pitchers this season — tied with Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander.
Regarding David Price, His xFIP-, Part II
David Price’s xFIP last season was a more pedestrian 92 — tied for 29th overall (out of 92 qualifiers) with pitchers like Scott Baker, Jason Hammel, and Carl Pavano.
What’s Different
While Price’s strikeout and ground-ball rates in 2011 are almost identical to what he posted in 2010, his walk rate is significantly lower, from last year’s mark of 3.41 BB/9 (blerg city!) to 1.76 BB/9 (say wha, player?).
Things That Aren’t Reasons for the Drop in David Price’s Walks
None of these things is the reason for David Price’s drop in walks:
1. First-Pitch Strike Percentage
2. Zone Percentage
3. Swing Percentage
How I Know That
Because his numbers are down this season in all three of those categories.
A Thing That Might Be the Reason for the Drop in Walks
Command — as in, he’s working more effectively withing the zone.
Who Says So
Tommy Rancel, like 12 days ago.
Regarding David Price, Last Thing
David Price has the third-highest average fastball velocity (94.7 mph) among qualifiers and the very highest among lefty qualifiers.
What You’d Be Totally Justified in Saying About Said Fastball
“That’s a spicy meatball!”
Three Other Games
Toronto (8) at Atlanta (7) | 13:05 ET
Brandon Beachy (8) returns from the DL — his first major-league appearance since May 13th.
Colorado (7) at Cleveland (10) | 19:05 ET
Charlie Blackmon Watch!
Yesterday: 4 PA, 2 FO, 2 GO.
Season: 54 PA, .327/.352/.346 (.347 BABIP) .338 wOBA, 104 wRC+, 3.7% BB, 5.8% K.
Philadelphia (3) at St. Louis (5) | 20:15 ET
Cliff Lee, much like a 1979 film co-starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek, is a 10.
Unlike said film, Lee’s starts contain almost nothing in the way of people falling down embankments.
Regard:
Also Playing
The last two editions of One Night Only have both featured an attempt on the part of the author to create a more user-friendly design for the daily slate of games. The present edition of One Night Only presents a third — and hopefully best — option.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach Britton | BAL | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | PIT | Kevin Correia | 12:35 |
| Freddy Garcia | NYA | 3 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | CIN | Mike Leake | 12:35 |
| Jo-Jo Reyes | TOR | 3 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ATL | Brandon Beachy | 13:05 |
| Clayton Richard | SD | 2 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | BOS | John Lackey | 13:35 |
| David Price | TB | 10 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 7 | MIL | Shaun Marcum | 14:10 |
| Rick Porcello | DET | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | LAN | Ted Lilly | 15:10 |
| Jason Hammel | COL | 3 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 6 | CLE | Josh Tomlin | 19:05 |
| Erik Bedard | SEA | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | WAS | John Lannan | 19:10 |
| Joel Pineiro | LAA | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | FL | Brian Sanches* | 19:10 |
| Brian Gordon* | NYA | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | CIN | Johnny Cueto | 19:10 |
| Gio Gonzalez | OAK | 6 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 8 | NYN | R.A. Dickey | 19:10 |
| Brett Myers | HOU | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | TEX | Colby Lewis | 20:05 |
| Ian Kennedy | AZ | 6 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 4 | KC | Jeff Francis | 20:10 |
| Doug Davis | CHN | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | CHA | Jake Peavy | 20:10 |
| Cliff Lee | PHI | 10 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | STL | Kyle Lohse | 20:15 |
| Nick Blackburn | MIN | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | SF | Ryan Vogelsong | 20:15 |
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.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Here’s a thought: How about a graded color scale for game nerd score? White = 0, Light Green = 5, Dark Green = 10. Something like that.
You have considerably more faith in my coding abilities than I do!
To do the shading, I’d almost definitely have to revert back to a mere image — from the table format here, I mean. That’s an option, certainly, but I like being able to click on the pitchers’ names.
I’m hoping sortable tables will work out. That’s for people more important than me to decide.
Much. More. Important.