MILWAUKEE -- Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti wore a pained smile as he sat in a front-office meeting this past winter. Their visitor that day was Jeff Samardzija, and the fast-talking free-agent pitcher gushed so much about coming to San Francisco, that Righetti found himself pondering something odd.
"Might want to shut up," Righetti recalled thinking. "You're going to cost yourself money."Well, that didn't happen. The Giants were so enamored by how Samardzija's stuff might play at AT&T Park that they gave him $90 million. But the right-hander's first start Wednesday night came in a lively road ballpark where he's never won in seven games.