Like many of his teammates, Jeff Samardzija hasn’t had an ideal first half of 2017.
He’s 4-9 in 17 starts with a 4.54 ERA. The long ball hasn’t been kind to him, (he’s given up 17 home runs) but neither have his teammates. The Giants have either lacked on offense production or quality defense on his starts, leading to a record Samardzija may not deserve.
Mike Krukow joined Murph and Mac on KNBR 680 Monday morning defending Samardzija, saying that despite his hard luck on the mound the former All-American never complains.
“We all know how competitive Jeff Samardzija is,” Krukow said. “Nobody talks about how professional the guy is. The guy never complains. He just simply goes about doing his work.
“Guys make an error behind him and his mentality is ‘I’m going to pick you up, I’m going to make sure that guy doesn’t score.’ He’s a leader, he leads that way.”
His mentality certainly seems to be paying off. He’s avoided his tenth loss of the season three straight times, including back-to-back wins over Colorado and Pittsburgh. His walk-to-strikeout ratio continues to dominate — he’s walked only 13 batters and struck out 122. And his teammates rallied late Sunday to ensure Shark a W, banging out three runs on four hits in the top of the seventh — something Samardzija hasn’t seen all season.
“When you get a team rooting for you, as they are when he goes out there, because of the hard luck that he has, you’ve accomplished something as a teammate,” Krukow added. “That’s what he’s done. We all recognize what he’s done, how good he’s been, but he doesn’t have anything to show for it. He’s a nine-game loser, but he’s anything but a loser the way he’s gone out there on the mound. Yesterday he got a reward.”
To hear the full podcast, listen below. To hear Krukow’s thoughts on Samardjiza, skip to 0:20.