One Night Only: Previews for Weekend of July 1st
Actual Rich Harden tattoo.
This edition of One Night Only contains:
1. Expanded previews for six of the weekend’s bumpinest games.
2. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of this weekend’s games.
3. The superlative adjective bumpinest, apparently.
Friday, July 1st
Kansas City (10) at Colorado (9) | 20:10 ET
• Instead of demoting Danny Duffy (4) after reinstating Kyle Davies from the DL, the team has elected to keep six starters.
• Regarding the move, Royals manager Ned Yost said, “The six-man rotation is this year’s black.”*
• Added Yost: “Not in a racist way.”**
*May not be a real quote.
**May also not be real.
Arizona (10) at Oakland (1) | 22:05 ET
• Rich Harden, a famous pitcher when you and your sister were just children, makes his season debut tonight.
• Here’s what Harden’s done this year (in two Triple-A starts): 7.2 IP, 12 K, 3 BB, 1 HR.
• Here’s what Harden’s done the past couple years (at home and elsewhere): probably brood.
Saturday, July 2nd
Philadelphia (2) at Toronto (9) | 13:07 ET
• Roy Halladay (10) is making his first start against his former team since being traded this past offseason*.
• Those aren’t tears in the eyes of every Blue Jay fan, though.
• They were all just chopping onions, is what happened.
*As commenter dougiejays notes below, basically this entire sentence is factually inaccurate.
Cleveland (9) at Cincinnati (7) | 16:10 ET
• The Indians are just 0.5 games out still.
• And also they have (prospect!) Lonnie Chisenhall and (the less prospecty, but still young!) Cord Phelps taking regulars ABs now.
• GuessWhatChisenButt.
Sunday, July 3rd
Baltimore (4) at Atlanta (10) | 13:35 ET
• Brandon Beachy (10) is really one of the best things there is now in the majors.
• For one thing, there’s this: 56.1 IP, 10.54 K/9, 2.40 BB/9, 31.2% GB, 2.89 xFIP, 77 xFIP-.
• Also, he just gets whiffs on his fastball (10.3% vs. league-average 6.0%).
• In particular, he’s great to watch on the Braves center-field camera.
• Although, maybe not with the Braves broadcast team.
Milwaukee (8) at Minnesota (0) | 14:10 ET
• On Thursday, our man Chris Cwik was like, “Zack Greinke (10) is sooooooo good.”
• On Friday, another of our mans, Eric Seidman, was all, “Up top, Cwik.”
• On Saturday — who knows. Che sarà, people. Che effing sarà.
Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you.
Friday:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Kendrick | PHI | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 7 | TOR | Ricky Romero | 13:07 |
| Edwin Jackson | CHA | 8 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | CHN | Randy Wells | 14:20 |
| Charlie Morton | PIT | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | WAS | Tom Gorzelanny | 19:05 |
| Mad. Bumgarner | SF | 10 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | DET | Brad Penny | 19:05 |
| Justin Masterson | CLE | 6 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 4 | CIN | Bronson Arroyo | 19:10 |
| Ivan Nova | NYA | 3 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | NYN | Jonathon Niese | 19:10 |
| Jake Westbrook | STL | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 0 | TB | Wade Davis | 19:10 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | BAL | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ATL | Jair Jurrjens | 19:35 |
| Tim Wakefield | BOS | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | HOU | Bud Norris | 20:05 |
| Anibal Sanchez | FL | 9 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 | TEX | Alexi Ogando | 20:05 |
| Danny Duffy | KC | 4 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 9 | COL | Juan Nicasio | 20:10 |
| Yovani Gallardo | MIL | 7 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 4 | MIN | Fran. Liriano | 20:10 |
| Josh Collmenter | AZ | 5 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 10 | OAK | Rich Harden* | 22:05 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | LAN | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | LAA | Tyler Chatwood | 22:05 |
| Dustin Moseley | SD | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | SEA | Jason Vargas | 22:10 |
Saturday:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roy Halladay | PHI | 10 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 4 | TOR | Carlos Villanueva | 13:07 |
| James McDonald | PIT | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | WAS | John Lannan | 15:35 |
| Undecided | PIT | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | WAS | Livan Hernandez | 2nd |
| Philip Humber | CHA | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | CHN | Matt Garza | 16:10 |
| Fausto Carmona | CLE | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | CIN | Homer Bailey | 16:10 |
| Bartolo Colon | NYA | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | NYN | Dillon Gee | 16:10 |
| Andrew Miller* | BOS | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 3 | HOU | J.A. Happ | 19:05 |
| Barry Zito | SF | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | DET | Max Scherzer | 19:05 |
| Jake Arrieta | BAL | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | ATL | Tim Hudson | 19:10 |
| Chris Narveson | MIL | 7 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | MIN | Carl Pavano | 19:10 |
| Kyle McClellan | STL | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | TB | Jeff Niemann | 19:10 |
| Undecided | FL | 5 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 6 | TEX | Derek Holland | 20:05 |
| Kyle Davies | KC | 2 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 7 | COL | Jhoulys Chacin | 20:10 |
| Joe Saunders | AZ | 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | OAK | Josh Outman | 21:05 |
| Clayton Kershaw | LAN | 10 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 6 | LAA | Jered Weaver | 21:05 |
| Cory Luebke* | SD | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | SEA | Doug Fister | 22:10 |
Sunday:
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ry. Vogelsong | SF | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | DET | Rick Porcello | 13:05 |
| Cliff Lee | PHI | 9 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 3 | TOR | Jo-Jo Reyes | 13:07 |
| Mitch Talbot | CLE | 1 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 6 | CIN | Mike Leake | 13:10 |
| Freddy Garcia | NYA | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 8 | NYN | R.A. Dickey | 13:10 |
| Zach Britton | BAL | 5 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 10 | ATL | Brandon Beachy | 13:35 |
| Kevin Correia | PIT | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | WAS | Jordan Zimmermann | 13:35 |
| Kyle Lohse | STL | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | TB | Jeremy Hellickson | 13:40 |
| Josh Beckett | BOS | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | HOU | Jordan Lyles | 14:05 |
| Zack Greinke | MIL | 10 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 3 | MIN | Nick Blackburn | 14:10 |
| Gavin Floyd | CHA | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | CHN | Rodrigo Lopez* | 14:20 |
| Luke Hochevar | KC | 4 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 2 | COL | Jason Hammel | 15:10 |
| Ian Kennedy | AZ | 7 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 6 | OAK | Gio Gonzalez | 16:05 |
| Mat Latos | SD | 7 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | SEA | Undecided | 16:10 |
| Javier Vazquez | FL | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 5 | TEX | C.J. Wilson | 20:05 |
| Ch. Billingsley | LAN | 6 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | LAA | Ervin Santana | 20:05 |
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.
Che effing sarà, indeed.