Sergio Romo’s Rough Season Not All That Rough

The career numbers for Sergio Romo suggest that 2014 has been an off year. From his call-up in 2008 through the end of the 2013 season, Romo boasted a career 2.27 ERA and .923 WHIP, two absolutely phenomenal numbers. But his stats this year do not look quite as pretty.

In 64 games, his ERA sits at 3.72, nearly a full run and a half higher than his career total. But that number is quite deceiving.

For whatever reason, the San Francisco Giants’ right-hander has been unable to figure out the Colorado Rockies. A lot of pitchers have had this problem at Coors Field, the home of the Rockies, but Romo’s woes have trickled into AT&T Park as well.

Taking a look at Romo’s number versus his mile-high division rivals, they aren’t good. In 11 appearances, his ERA is 12.00, having given up 12 earned runs in just nine innings pitched.

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Breaking it down further, his ERA at Coors Field is 12.27. In five games, he has given up five runs in just 3.2 innings pitched. In six appearances at AT&T Park versus Colorado, Romo has allowed seven runs to score in just 5.1 innings pitched.

But if you take away those terrible games against the Rockies, Romo has been just as good as he has always been. Subtracting those 11 games, Romo’s ERA drops from a good 3.72 to a sparkling 2.20. The 2.20 ERA is actually better than his career number coming into the season.

Romo’s overall WHIP sits at .947, which is not much higher than his career .923 number. Against the Rockies, his WHIP is 2.111, which is enough to inflate any statistic. Taking away those awful performances, that number drops to a remarkable .714, another stat that shows Romo is still his same old self.

Reviewing the numbers again and taking away Romo’s outings against the Rockies, his season stats show he has been just as solid as ever with a 2.20 ERA and .714 WHIP. Both stats are better than his career totals.

If you need more evidence, look at Romo’s performance this past weekend against the Dodgers. Romo appeared in two of the three games in the series, and retired all five batters he faced. His slider was as good as its been all year, as evidenced by Yasiel Puig striking out twice on filthy no-dot sliders.

If anyone is worried about Romo and his inflated statistics, stop worrying. The Giants don’t have to face the Rockies again this year. But down the road, Bochy might think twice about using Romo against Colorado.