Having thrown 69 major-league pitches in the past month, Hideo Nomo takes the mound tonight for the Dodgers.

As I did for Jeff Weaver, let me present Nomo's scored-against-by-innings in nine starts this season:

001 06x xxx (April 5 vs. San Diego)
010 001 xxx (April 10 vs. Colorado)
210 00x xxx (April 15 at San Diego)
001 012 xxx (April 21 at Colorado)
030 001 xxx (April 27 vs. New York)
100 011 xxx (May 2 vs. Montreal)
001 011 xxx (May 8 at Pittsburgh)
06x xxx xxx (May 13 vs. Chicago)
01x xxx xxx (May 19 at Philadelphia)

The total:
3(12)3 096 xxx

I got a fair amount of ridicule for pointing out that Weaver allowed a high percentage of his runs in the first inning, so simply take the following at face value - especially considering the rest Nomo has just had.

Nomo has not put a 0 on the board after the fifth inning all year. (But he has a 0.00 ERA in the fourth!)

All things being equal, perhaps Nomo should follow the lead of none other than Kazuhisa Ishii and stay out of the middle of the plate. Nomo is allowing 3.67 walks per nine innings this year - his lowest total since 1996. At the same time, he has allowed 12 home runs and a .583 slugging percentage - by far a career high.

Could Nomo find a way to confound with wildness if the velocity that allows him to change speeds isn't yet back? Can he function as a junkballer?

I am making it a point not to answer those questions before tonight's game.

Note: Anyone watching the game on television who wants to supply some radar gun readings on Nomo, just enough that we can get a range, please feel encouraged to do so in the comments.