On Tuesday evening, Rays and former longtime Giants reliever Sergio Romo had some choice words for Nationals outfielder Michael Taylor, after striking him out to clinch a 1-0 victory. Romo appeared to yell at Taylor at length as the outfielder walked back to his dugout. Romo’s antics irked a number of Nationals coaches and players, leading to both benches clearing before cooler heads prevailed.
Romo’s anger apparently stems from a June 6 incident, when Taylor stole third base on Romo while the Nationals held a seven-run lead. In Romo’s mind, doing so broke one of baseball’s (often puzzling) unwritten rules.
Romo’s former teammate Kevin Frandsen joined Gary & Larry on Wednesday to discuss the incident. Frandsen believes Romo went overboard, and that his fake-tough guy act has gotten tired.
“Yep, I’ve always said it,” Frandsen said when asked by Gary Radnich if Romo is a ‘fake-tough guy.’ “And that’s why he drilled me and I laughed at him in 2014.
“I like Sergio, he’s a good guy. I’m going to preface this whole thing by saying this: I’ve known Sergio for many years. I like Sergio. Sergio on the field pisses me off.
“He’s a guy that if he’s on your team, his act you can put up with. If he’s on the other team, you just want to beat the living you know what out of him.”
Frandsen explained why Romo hit him in 2014.
“Because I always called him out on it. I’d always yell at him for just screaming and yelling and looking at the dugout. I didn’t like that. I was just…You can celebrate. I’m all about celebration. But the moment you make it like personal and that’s like looking at dugouts and doing all that, and kind of doing your gyrations and all of that stuff…It’s fine, but whatever.”
Asked where he was hit:
“In the lat, at 88 (MPH). If you’re going to send a message, have one of your buddies do it that’s going to throw a little harder.
Frandsen reiterated that he respects Romo as a player, and likes him off the field. It’s the multiple examples of Romo not backing up his trash talk that bother him.
“Does this take away from who Romo is? No. But his act — there’s an act behind this whole thing — and that’s what’s the tired part. He wants to go up and argue and yell and continue on throughout the whole thing, and then find his way to the back and act like he’s going to make his way to the front. He’s not going to make his way to the front.
“Go back to the Mexico-Canada brawl. Do you remember that in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) a couple years ago, in Arizona? So the fight went on. The fight went on and it was crazy, and then he rolls in with his hoodie on, staring down everyone.
“There was a melee, it was a full on melee, and he was in the back of the whole thing.
“Romo’s been a dominant reliever for a decade now. And he’s won three titles, he’s been great, he was a great Giant. But does that entitle him to do that. Is that part of the unwritten rule? No.”
Some might see this as simply and “eye for eye” scenario, with Romo’s outburst serving as payback for Taylor’s apparent disrespect. Frandsen agrees that Taylor shouldn’t have stolen the base, but that Romo’s response was a bit outlandish.
If you steal on him, and don’t show any emotion, I mean that’s fine,” Frandsen said referring to Taylor. “You can do whatever. You know what happened after that? Go back on it. Romo does like the Shaun Rodriguez on the Gatorade bucket, and then he starts yelling in the dugout. Go do something then dude. You had another couple chances with the ball in your hand to do something, and you didn’t do anything.
“You can say what he did was “an eye for an eye.” He took it way overboard.”
Listen to the full interview below.