Romo rolls with punches

Veteran reliever able to deal with failure

MIAMI — Early in his minorleague career, Sergio Romo learned a critical lesson that stuck with him after moving into the bullpen — how to respond to failure.

Entering high-leverage situations, the margin for error is razor-thin for relievers. Make one mistake as a starter and you might have the rest of the game to make up for it; make one out of the bullpen and the game could be over.

“Since being in the minors relieving, I was told there are unwritten rules being a reliever,” Romo said. “One of them is learning your own way to have short-term memory [and] understanding that the next day is a new day.”

With 688 relief appearances during his 12-year major-league career, Romo has experienced mostly success, highlighted by

120 saves and three World Series rings. But like any reliever, he’s also dealt with failure.

On Sunday, the Miami Marlins’ pitcher dealt with the latter.

Facing the Atlanta Braves, Miami held a 5-1 lead in the ninth inning. While it wasn’t a save situation, the 36-year-old righthander entered the game hoping to finish off the victory. Instead, Romo suffered his worst outing of the season, allowing four earned runs, including the game-tying home run.

The Braves would later win the game 7-6 in 12 innings.

While Romo took Sunday’s loss hard following the game, he didn’t wallow in his struggles. He was ready to get back on the mound.

“[Sunday’s game] hurt,” Romo said. “[But the next day] I was ready and hungry for the ball again. In a sense, it’s a game of redemption. This game, it’s said [if ] you fail seven out of 10 times, you’re an All-Star, so it’s definitely a game of failure.

“This game always gives you a chance for redemption.”

Many of his career lessons came from his time with San Francisco. A 28th-round pick in 2005, Romo matriculated his way through the Giants’ system, reaching the big leagues in 2008. As part of three World Series teams, he played his fair share of postseason games, making 27 playoff appearances.

The Giants’ 2012 postseason run showcased how he grew to overcome miscues.

In his first game of the National League Divisional Series, he was dinged for a run in 1 1⁄3 innings. After that, he was lights out, tossing 9 1⁄3 shutout innings. Romo went 3-for-3 on save opportunities in the World Series, striking out Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera looking to complete the sweep.

One of the key lessons he learned from Giants veterans such as Javier Lopez, Jeremy Affeldt, Bob Howry and Guillermo Moto was to stay consistent throughout the process and be true to yourself.

“They all stressed to be myself,” Romo said. “They always stressed to do you. ‘Yeah, you’re different, you’re a little odd, you’re a little weird, you’re definitely outside the box, but if you’re that every day, then everyone has an opportunity to accept that. They know what they’re going to get from you.’ ”

While the stakes aren’t quite as high in Miami, the introspective reliever has learned how to deal with his struggles — and come back stronger from them.

“I still have confidence in myself,” Romo said. “I didn’t make the good pitches in my last outing and I got hurt for that. It’s the big leagues, it should happen when you make those mistakes or you go in unfocused or unsure. [If you’re] not confident, things like that happen. [When] you don’t control the things you can control — in a game where you hardly have any control — that’s going to happen to you.

“For me, it’s going back to just being focused. Being the guy that got me to this position, earned me my spot on this team, earned me my role on this team, earned me the opportunities I get. Go back to being that convicted, hungry, sometimes overly-confident self.”

While he’s learned how to personally power through it, Romo said it was the rest of the clubhouse having his back that really gave him that extra push.

“My team the next day [said], ‘We’re going to get you an opportunity. You’re going to be back there today,’ ” Romo said. “Multiple guys came up — man, that’s uplifting.

“That makes it reassuring I do have a spot on this team. I am visible to all my teammates and they believe in me still.

“All right cool, I can believe in myself just solely off of that. That’s my way of having short-term memory is relying on the rest of my guys.”

MARK BROWN/GETTY The Braves finally put the Marlins in their place with a three-game sweep in Miami.