One Night Only: Hot Game Previews for May 16th by Carson Cistulli May 16, 2011 Play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough was an original member of NKOTB. This edition of One Night Only contains: 1. Expanded previews for three games: New York (AL) at Tampa Bay, Cliff Lee at St. Louis, and the world-beating Cleveland Indians at the world-beating Kansas City Royals. 2. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of tonight’s games (using the experimental pitcher-heavy method discussed last time). 3. All of the synonyms for amazing. New York Americans (8) at Tampa Bay (8) | 18:40 ET Starting Pitchers Yankees: A.J. Burnett (4) 50.2 IP, 6.93 K/9, 3.20 BB/9, .228 BABIP, 41.1 GB%, 10.3% HR/FB, 3.98 xFIP, 100 xFIP- Rays: David Price (8) 57.2 IP, 7.34 K/9, 1.40 BB/9, .287 BABIP, 42.6 GB%, 6.5% HR/FB, 3.24 xFIP, 81 xFIP- Notes • So, I guess we have to watch this game, looks like. • Let’s find something redeeming. • Sam Fuld? Brett Gardner? Curtis Granderson? • Ben Zobrist has a 2.4 WAR already. • David Price will be pitching for the straight-on Tropicana Field center-field camera. If I Had My Druthers • The AL East would stop acting like that kid who went to all the special SAT prep classes. • Like, maybe it’d hang out with the NL West for a while. • And then it’d be more like, “Let’s just chill or whatevs.” Philadelphia (2) at St. Louis (7) | 19:05 ET Starting Pitchers Phillies: Cliff Lee (10) 52.1 IP, 11.01 K/9, 1.20 BB/9, .348 BABIP, 40.3 GB%, 9.3% HR/FB, 2.22 xFIP, 60 xFIP- Cardinals: Jake Westbrook (4) 39.0 IP, 5.31 K/9, 4.62 BB/9, .348 BABIP, 61.0 GB%, 10.7% HR/FB, 4.21 xFIP, 112 xFIP- Notes This game will be fine, on account of Cliff Lee is pitching and because the center-field camera at Busch is one of the more ably positioned of the league’s 30 total cameras. Mostly, though, I’d like to use this game — which is ESPN’s Monday Night game — to submit an endorsement of (for?) Jonah Keri’s interview with Monday Night play-by-play man Sean McDonough. In said interview, you’ll be treated to: • A story about how college basketball analyst Bill Raftery got wicked sauced this one time. • The implication (by McDonough) that said episode was not an isolated incident. • Some reflections on the Making of Jerry Remy. Cleveland (10) at Kansas City (10) | 20:10 ET Starting Pitchers Indians: Josh Tomlin (5) 46.2 IP, 5.01 K/9, 1.74 BB/9, .170 BABIP, 38.7 GB%, 14.3% HR/FB, 3.87 xFIP, 97 xFIP- Royals: Kyle Davies (4) 40.2 IP, 6.42 K/9, 3.10 BB/9, .364 BABIP, 36.1 GB%, 10.0% HR/FB, 4.57 xFIP, 115 xFIP- Four Reasons Why the Indians Continue to Rate Highly by NERD • The average age of their batters this season is 26.4 — youngest in the majors. • They have one of the better park-adjusted home-run per fly-ball rates (HR/FB) in the majors. • They’re fourth in the league in park-adjusted batting runs above average, at +22.2. • They’re doing all this with the fifth-lowest payroll. Four Reasons Why the Royals Continue to Rate Highly by NERD • They’ve featured the second-youngest batting lineup, at 26.7. • They run a lot and run successfully, as their league-best 5.9 Speed Score demonstrates. • They’re seventh in park-adjusted batting runs, with +14.3. • They have the absolute lowest payroll in the majors. One Last Measly Note Minnesota (0) at Seattle (1) | 22:10 ET • Michael Pineda — who ranks among the leadingest of leaders in three important pitching categories — pitches today because of yesterday’s rainout. Also Playing These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you. pNERD = Pitcher NERD tNERD = Team NERD Game = Time and Average NERD for Game * = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD of 5 (or 10 for debuts)