One Night Only: Previews for Weekend of May 6th

A Portrait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged Baseball Man

This edition of One Night Only contains:

1. Hot, bullet-pointed previews for seven games — probably including your favorite team!

2. Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of this weekend’s games.

3. Tons of frigging whimsy.

Friday, May 6th
Cincinnati (9) at Chicago Nationals (3) | 14:20 ET
• This game is on WGN literally this second.
• Unless you’re reading this in the future.
• In which case, what is the future like?

Oakland (3) at Kansas City (10) | 20:10 ET
• Today, will likely mark the major-league debut of Royal first-base prospect Eric Hosmer, who was promoted from Triple-A yesterday (with Kila Ka’aihue going the other way).
• Dave Cameron says, “Don’t be too seduced by his batting average-heavy minor-league line.”
• Dave Cameron also says, “Don’t tell everyone that I secretly hate their team.”

Milwaukee (7) at St. Louis (9) | 20:15 ET
• Tonight’s starter for Milwaukee, Randy Wolf (5), is (a) either the fourth or fifth starter for his team and has (b) posted this line so far in 2011: 37.2 IP, 7.88 K/9, 2.39 BB/9, 36.4 GB%, 3.60 xFIP, 95 xFIP-.
• If I’m Doug Melvin, I’m like, “Boomshakalaka!”
• If I’m Doug Melvin, I’m also like, “Wait, who’s Carson Cistulli now?”

Saturday, May 7th
UPDATE: As noted below in the comment section, Braves prospect Julio Teheran will be starting tonight against Philadelphia at 19:05 ET. FanGraphs Prospect Maven Marc Hulet ranked Teheran sixth-overall on his (i.e. Hulet’s) preseason top-100 list.

Arizona (10) at San Diego (8) | 20:35 ET
• Daniel Hudson (10) is one of only six pitchers to currently possess a perfect score by NERD’s exacting standards.
• The other five: Matt Garza, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Tim Lincecum, and Michael Pineda.
• His inclusion in that group is largely based on the fact that his 5.30 ERA totally mispresents his actual performance so far (as evidenced by his 3.45 xFIP).

Cleveland (10) at Los Angeles Americans (6) | 21:05 ET
• Alex White (N/A) makes just his second major-league start tonight.
• His first start, April 30th against Detroit, looked like this: 6.0 IP, 26 TBF, 4 K, 4 BB (2 IBB), 9 GB on 17 batted-balls (52.9 GB%).
• Slightly strange thing: White throws a real-live splitter — something only 10 of 115 qualified pitchers do.

Sunday, May 8th (Mother’s Day!)
Cincinnati (9) at Chicago Nationals (3) | 14:20 ET
• Johnny Cueto makes his season debut this afternoon, returning from “mild shoulder inflammation.”
• His preseason ZiPS projection: 190.2 IP, 7.36 K/9, 2.93 BB/9, 1.09 HR/9, 3.99 FIP, 98 FIP-.
• Actually, maybe not that thrilling, turns out.

Cleveland (10) at Los Angeles Americans (6) | 15:35 ET
• The Angels currently have the highest team WAR (hitting plus fielding) in the AL West.
• Angels: 6.4 WAR. Rangers: 5.6. A’s: 1.9. Mariners: 0.2.
• A list of Angels who’ve been better than the Mariners: Howie Kendrick (1.9 WAR), Maicer Izturis (1.3), Peter Bourjos (1.0), Erick Aybar (0.7), Torii Hunter (0.7), Hank Conger (0.6), Mark Trumbo (0.6), Bobby Abreu (0.4), Alberto Callaspo (0.3).

Also Playing
These games are very likely playing at some kind of sporty channel near you.

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

pNERD = Pitcher NERD
tNERD = Team NERD
Game = Time and Average NERD for Game
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD of 5 (or 10 for debuts)