I keep hearing this phrase

> .... マシだ

Apparently it means something along the lines of "better than nothing"?

For example in the drama 「結婚できない男」 there's a scene where the main character is
being suggested to help out his neighbor with a stalker and the dialog is
something like

> ミチルちゃんが一人でビクビク歩くよりクワノさんでもいた方がましでしょ（う）？

Is "better than nothing" a good translation or at least a good pattern to
match the phrase to? I find if I can find something I might actually stay in
English to tie a Japanese phrase to I'm more likely to be able to use it.
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usage
What's the meaning and usage of ~マシだ
増し is what you are looking for. It means better/preferable/increase. It
doesn't really have to be "better than nothing." just that doing X is better.
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You seem to be overthinking the meaning of まし(マシ)だ. Its literal translation is
"better (than something)" or "preferred (to something)". For example,

> この[方]{ほう}がまだましだ. This way is far better (than the way implied in the
> sentence).
>
> ないよりもましだ. (It's) better than nothing.
>
> [死]{し}ぬよりは[増]{ま}しだ. (It's) better than dying.
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It means "better than something", but there are extra nuances that both
choices are bad ones.

If you want to say "A is better than B", you can say "BよりAの方が良い" or
"BよりAの方がマシだ". Both make sense and both mean "A is better than B", but if you
use the word "マシだ", there is a nuance that both A and B are terrible.

For example,

> 彼よりも君の方が良い。  
>  You are better than him.
>
> 彼よりも君の方がマシだ。  
>  You are better than him. (But he and you are both bad.)
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According to "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar", page 169:  
ましだ: a phrase indicating that although someone/something (or some situation)
is not satisfactory, it is better than someone/something else.

The goo dictionary provides some examples:

そんな友でもないよりましだ  
Even such a friend is better than no friend (at all).

もう少しましなことは言えないのか  
Can't you say anything [something a little] more sensible?

人の物を盗むくらいなら死んだほうがましだ  
I would rather die than steal another's things.

このほうがまだましだね  
This isn't quite as bad as that.／This is less unsatisfactory than that.

<http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/71521/meaning/m1u/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97/>
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It's a phrase indicating that it is probably better to do something than not
to do it -- the exact same idiom in English is "might as well"
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2016-10-22T21:08:56.293
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Use マシ to suggest acceptable/better option given two undesirable choices.
English equivalent of the given Japanese sentence
"ミチルさんは[一人]でビクビク歩くよりクワノさん[と]でも行った方がマシでしょう？" will be "No one wants to walk with
Kuwano-san but doesn't it beat walking alone scared?" In other words, both
walking alone and walking with Kuwano-san are not great choices but walking
with Kuwano-san at least will provide sense of security.
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Lots of good answers already, but I can't find this one: "XがYよりましです": "X is
less worse/bad than Y".
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マシ means better (than). Similer to まだマシ(At least {something} higher than
{something}).  
You should not use in formal place. In that case, use まだ良い instead of it.

> **Example:**
>
>   * やらずに後悔するよりやって後悔したほうがマシだ。
>   * これを食べればまだマシになるだろう。
>
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