New York Giants
2005 ATL Season Review
by "Rico" Tanner
Sports Reporter
New York Daily News
Going into spring traing the Giants Front Office was pleased with
the team they had assembled for the up coming season. 
They were looking
for the big bats of Stan "The Man"
Musial, Harry Heilmann, Willie Stargell, & Harmon Killebrew to
power the offensive attack and, for the most part, they didn't
disappoint anyone. They had a combined average of .257 BA, 32 HR, 100
RBI, 85 Runs. The batting average was lower than anticipated but,
considering the highest average among the starters was catcher Bill
Dickey's .288 and the team average was .253, the .257 BA wasn't all
that bad. Big Willie Stargell keyed the power attack by leading the
team in homeruns (44) and RBI's (126) while winning the Legends League
Homerun Crown with his 44 dingers. Stan "The Man"
Musial was solid all season (.283 BA, 31 HR's, 115 RBI's, 100 R's)
while leading the team in doubles (37) and triples (11). He also
committed just 2 errors and was selected for the All Star Team. Harmon
Killebrew had productive stats with 35 HR's and 89 
RBI's. He was also
second on 
the
team in walks with 80. Harry Heilmann's stats were a
little below what was expected (17 HR's, 69 RBI's, 71, R's) but, his 34
doubles was second on the teams and his .282 BA was third among the
starters. Bill Dickey, while leading the starters in batting average,
also produced 22 HR's, 51 RBI's, 61 Runs, and made just 3 errors in
only
112 games and was selected for the All Star Team. George Scales had a
nice year batting in the 2 hole. He had a .276 BA, 23 HR's, 76 RBI's,
104 R's, lead the team in walks with 81 and was second in SB's with 10.
Ozzie Smith, though he didn't have a high BA (.252) or OBP (.337) as
the lead off hitter, he did score 96 runs, had 75 walks, and only 35
strikeouts while leading the team in SB's with 17. Dale Murphy, a mid
season acquistion via trade, put up some nice stats in only 64 games.
Though he only batted .234, he had 14 HR's, 51 RBI's, 
34 R's, 32 BB's
in only 214 at bats. Projected over a
full season that would be around
30 HR's and 100 RBI's. Stan Hack and Lefty O'Doul both batted over .400
coming of the bench in important pinch hitting roles and came through
time after time.
As for the pitching, Hal Hewhouser, Red Ruffing, Amos Rusie, Rube
Waddell, & Hoyt Wilhelm were expected to anchor the staff which at
times look brilliant but, overall, didn't perform as expected. The
young hurler, Hal Newhouser, was the ace of the staff as he posted a
14-4 record & 3.75 ERA. He did lead the team with 107 walks but,
also lead in strikeouts with 185. His 14 wins tied him for the team
lead with Red Ruffing and he was second in games started (37) &
scond in innings pitched (225.1). Red Ruffing was a solid starter even
though he had a high ERA (4.78). He was 14-9 and lead the team in games
started (40), innings pitched (226), and was second in strikeouts with
118 but, was also second in walks with (84) and served up a team high
27 HR's. Amos Rusie was 9-10 with a 3.99 ERA in 28 starts. He was
fourth on the team in strikeouts with 104 in just 162.1 innings
pitched. The young Rube Waddell was the biggest disappointment. He was
expected to be one of the top pitchers on the staff but, the
expectations turned out to be to high as the kid couldn't handle the
pressure and was sent to the bullpen in mid season. He had a record of
7-11 with a 5.86 ERA. He was third on the team in strikeouts (110) and
walks (70) in just 155 innings pitched. The ageless one, Hoyt Willhelm,
was a workhorse in the closer role. Even though his ERA was 4.40, he
had a record of 8-7, 35 Saves, 118.2 innings pitched in 79 games. He
also had 78 strikeouts and only 30 walks. Sparky Lyle was a solid setup
man all year. He was 6-7 with a 
3.42 ERA, 2 SV's, 
71 innings pitched in
57 games. Spud Chandler did a nice job as a reliever and starter. His
ERA was 5.43 but, he was 7-6 in 132.2 innings pitched. He started 18
games and was in 54. Andy Cooper and Hippo Vaughn pitched better in
relief than their ERA's show. Overall, the 4.67 Team ERA was higher
than the Front Office would like.
With that said, the Front Office credits Manager George Southerland,
who took over the helm after Spring Training, with getting this group
of guys to believe in each other and to play as a team. It showed down
the stretch as the Giants had to win there last 5 games (4 against the
division rival New York Mets) to force a one game playoff against those
same Mets to win the wildcard. The Giants came through and did the
almost impossible by sweeping the Mets and then beating then in the one
game playoff to to win the wildcard.
Now that they were in the playoffs they had to face the powerful
Cincinnati Reds. The Reds proved to be to much for the Giants as Jimmy
Foxx almost single handedly done them in. The games were close but,
Manager George Southerland said "the Giants were lucky to win the one game they did to avoid getting swept. That Foxx is some slugger."
The Front Office belives the Giants have a team that can stil contend
and that they can improve their 84-71 record. With youngsters like
Johnny Bench and Fernando Valenzuela, they're hoping to be contenders
for a while. After last seasons late run, I wouldn't bet against them.
Awards Won by Giants Players
Bill Dickey
All-Star, Gold Glove, Best Nine
Stan Musial
All-Star, Silver Slugger
Hoyt Wilhelm
June Pitcher of the Month
George Scales
Best Nine
Team Batting -- 2005 New York Giants
S Name P AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HBP IW SB CS
Blackwell sp .500 .500 2.000 5 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hack* 3b .421 .450 .421 17 19 8 0 0 0 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
O'Doul* lf .406 .459 .719 27 32 13 1 0 3 8 9 4 3 0 0 0 0
Vaughn,H# sp .400 .400 .400 41 5 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Held ss .333 .500 1.333 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
n Roush* cf .301 .364 .467 72 289 87 4 10 8 51 34 26 34 4 0 11 7
Dickey* c .288 .342 .519 112 403 116 15 6 22 61 51 31 50 3 4 1 0
Musial* lf .283 .364 .534 153 607 172 37 11 31 100 115 75 72 4 5 4 2
Heilmann rf .282 .353 .447 155 564 159 34 4 17 71 69 63 91 1 1 4 1
Waner,L* cf .277 .310 .415 62 65 18 0 0 3 8 12 4 3 0 0 0 1
Scales 2b .276 .376 .467 134 508 140 20 4 23 104 73 81 66 3 0 10 5
Wright,WB# cf .272 .319 .544 99 125 34 3 5 7 31 25 9 25 0 0 5 1
Hunt 2b .260 .351 .300 26 50 13 2 0 0 6 0 5 9 2 0 0 0
Marcelle 3b .255 .321 .412 65 51 13 5 0 1 8 9 5 6 0 0 0 0
Smith,O# ss .252 .337 .352 145 568 143 21 6 8 96 49 75 35 0 1 17 11
Pesky* ss .252 .310 .329 61 155 39 3 0 3 14 17 12 15 1 0 2 0
Buckner* 1b .250 .265 .396 63 48 12 2 1 1 6 4 1 2 0 0 0 0
Chandler sp .250 .289 .306 51 36 9 0 1 0 3 3 0 12 2 0 0 0
Stargell* lf .234 .290 .507 152 590 138 25 2 44 90 126 48 137 3 2 0 1
Murphy cf .234 .332 .491 64 214 50 5 4 14 34 51 32 47 1 2 1 4
Killebrew 1b .227 .332 .469 141 488 111 3 5 35 78 89 80 106 0 1 0 0
Ruffing sp .190 .202 .329 40 79 15 2 0 3 7 15 2 23 0 0 0 0
n Parrish,Lan c .167 .254 .333 27 60 10 1 0 3 7 8 7 18 0 0 0 0
Rusie sp .153 .194 .271 28 59 9 2 1 1 5 4 3 18 0 0 1 0
Newhouser* sp .150 .171 .213 38 80 12 0 1 1 3 5 2 18 0 0 0 2
Wilhelm cl .125 .125 .125 79 16 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 0 0 0 0
Bench c .124 .173 .227 30 97 12 2 1 2 11 9 6 21 0 0 0 0
Nichols# sp .111 .190 .278 69 18 2 0 0 1 3 4 2 2 0 0 0 0
Lollar c .097 .176 .097 11 31 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 1 1 0 0
Waddell sp .082 .080 .163 45 49 4 1 0 1 3 5 0 9 0 0 0 0
Cooper,A sp .056 .056 .111 45 18 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 11 0 0 0 0
Gordon,T cl .000 .000 .000 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Locker# mr .000 .000 .000 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lyle* cl .000 .000 .000 57 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Thomson cf .000 .250 .000 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Valenzuela* sp .000 .000 .000 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Makihara sp .000 .000 .000 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total .253 .326 .443 155 5341 1349 189 62 234 816 793 577 847 26 17 56 35
Team Pitching -- 2005 New York Giants
S Name P ERA W L S G GS CG SHO INN H R ER BB K HR GDP BF
Gordon,T cl 0.00 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 4.1 2 0 0 3 3 0 0 18
Locker mr 1.23 1 1 1 9 0 0 0 7.1 5 1 1 2 2 0 1 26
d Blackwell sp 2.63 1 1 0 5 1 0 0 13.2 11 4 4 4 9 1 0 56
Makihara sp 3.12 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 8.2 12 8 3 3 5 0 1 42
Lyle* cl 3.42 6 7 2 57 0 0 0 71.0 64 30 27 30 52 6 5 300
Newhouser* sp 3.75 14 4 0 38 37 5 0 225.1 202 108 94 107 185 15 12 972
Rusie sp 3.99 9 10 0 28 28 3 1 162.1 150 83 72 68 104 20 8 703
Wilhelm cl 4.40 8 7 35 79 0 0 0 118.2 107 61 58 30 78 16 5 495
Nichols sp 4.69 9 8 0 69 4 1 0 109.1 121 63 57 32 53 15 6 479
Ruffing sp 4.78 14 9 0 40 40 6 0 226.0 246 129 120 84 118 27 24 983
Chandler sp 5.43 7 6 0 51 18 0 0 132.2 157 87 80 44 73 22 4 598
Cooper,A* sp 5.46 3 2 1 44 2 0 0 94.0 100 60 57 41 54 11 10 406
Waddell* sp 5.86 7 11 0 45 21 2 1 155.0 166 103 101 70 110 22 10 685
Vaughn,H* sp 6.39 5 2 3 41 0 0 0 56.1 57 43 40 37 32 10 6 255
Valenzuela* sp 10.29 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 7.0 10 9 8 4 5 1 0 35
Total 4.67 84 71 42 155 155 17 3 1391.2 1410 789 722 559 883 166 92 6053
n=non-roster at end of year
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