NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Kansas City at Detroit | 19:08 ET
James Shields (200.1 IP, 96 xFIP-, 3.1 WAR) faces Rick Porcello (183.0 IP, 96 xFIP-, 3.1 WAR). It’s the case for athletes, generally, that the extent of their celebrations correlates strongly with the height of the leverage of the encounter from which they’ve just emerged successfully — that the celebration is, in large part, an expression of relief. To what degree the following clip of Joe Nathan differs from those other times when he’s recorded a save, the author can’t say. That Nathan’s celebration occurs just after having weathered the highest leverage index for him (4.43) since August 9th — against a Kansas City club with whom Detroit is effectively tied in the standings — this is all an example of fact.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Debut Alert: Houston’s Nick Tropeano
Left-handed Houston prospect Nick Tropeano is scheduled to make his major-league debut tonight. Not necessarily celebrated for his arm speed, the 23-year-old nevertheless recorded excellent numbers at Triple-A Oklahoma City this. To wit: 124.2 IP, 24.7% K, 6.8%.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Colorado at New York NL, starts at 7:10pm ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and very sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and also the rest of the internet. Note that the calculations both for team and game NERD scores have changed recently to better integrate playoff odds into same. Read more about those changes here, if you’re the sort of person accustomed to making poor life decisions.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	7	4	4	3	4	BOS	Brandon Workman	13:35
Aaron Harang	ATL	4	5	5	4	10	WAS	Stephen Strasburg	16:05
Kyle Gibson	MIN	5	4	5	4	10	CLE	T.J. House	19:05
Vance Worley	PIT	6	10	6	3	3	PHI	Jerome Williams	19:05
Jake Odorizzi	TB	7	4	5	3	8	NYA	Chris Capuano	19:05
Kyle Hendricks	CHN	6	4	5	4	7	TOR	Drew Hutchison	19:07
James Shields	KC	7	10	8	8	7	DET	Rick Porcello	19:08
Tyler Matzek	COL	6	4	4	3	5	NYN	Rafael Montero	19:10
John Lackey	STL	9	4	5	3	6	CIN	Alfredo Simon	19:10
Matt Shoemaker	LAA	9	4	4	3	3	TEX	Nick Tepesch	20:05
Jarred Cosart	MIA	5	4	5	5	8	MIL	Wily Peralta	20:10
Jeff Samardzija	OAK	9	10	7	3	5	CHA	Chris Bassitt*	20:10
Nick Tropeano*	HOU	7	4	7	8	9	SEA	Hisashi Iwakuma	22:10
Ian Kennedy	SD	8	3	5	5	6	LAN	Dan Haren	22:10
Josh Collmenter	AZ	5	3	6	10	4	SF	Ryan Vogelsong	22:15

To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.