Is the ERA wrong on yahoo?

[OV614]

I just started playing Ervin Santana the other day and his ERA says 63.00 and his WHIP says 10.00. Is this a mistake by Yahoo? I think his ERA should be about 7 or 8 right now. Anyone else have trouble with stats on Yahoo Sports? Thanks.

Ov614

[padrino990_200]

no mistake. he gave up 7 runs in 1 inning = 63.00 era

[OV614]

ok. i think i see. the era is for 9 innings. so if he only plays 1 inning then multiply that by 9. is that correct?

[Torr]

Right, ERA per game is always per 9 innings (times 9 for one inning, times 1.5 for 6 innings, etc). But in terms of your ERA for the entire week (in HTH) or season (roto) the number of innings and actual runs do matter. That ERA and WHIP numbers you see on your results for that night are somewhat meaningless... the actual number of innings and runs (in Santana's case 1 inning and 7 runs) matter in the end. A reliever with an ERA of 9.00 for 1 inning isn't as bad as a starter with an ERA of 9.00 for 6 innings, because the RP actuallly only allowed 1 run and the starter allowed 6 (the starter equals 6 relievers allowing 1 run in 1 inning). Alternatively, a pitcher who allows 1 run in 4 innings doesn't bring down your total ERA as much as a pitcher who allows 2 runs in a complete game.

Hope that makes sense...