Pirates' Giles Out For Season

September 22, 1999 / 9:25 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Center fielder Brian Giles, enjoying one of the best seasons by any Pittsburgh Pirates player in the last quarter-century, has a broken right middle finger and will miss the season.

Giles, batting .315 with 39 homers and 115 RBIs, will return to his California home on Thursday and won't accompany the Pirates on their season-ending 10-game road trip.

Giles' 39 homers are the most by a Pirates player since Willie Stargell's 44 in 1973. His overall statistics are better than either of Barry Bonds' two NL MVP seasons with Pittsburgh, in 1990 and 1992.

In his first season as a regular he previously was a part-time outfielder with Cleveland Giles needed one more homer to join Stargell and Ralph Kiner as the only Pirates to hit 40 in a season.

"I'm missing out on 40 homers, but it's just another number to me," Giles said. "I didn't get all caught up in it. Still, when you're that close to it, you want to go ahead and do it."

Giles was injured sliding into second base as he tried to break up a double play in the ninth inning of the Pirates' 6-3 loss to Houston on Tuesday night. He was 8-for-13 with two homers and six RBIs in his final three games and had 14 homers and 36 RBIs in his final 31 games.

"The only good thing about this is I'm only to going miss 11 games," Giles said. "It's still disappointing to not be able to finish out the season. You always want to be able to finish what you started."

Giles' injury cripples the Pirates' bid for their first winning season since 1992. They were two games under .500 at 74-76 and were in third place in the NL Central going into Wednesday night's game with Houston, their final home game of the season.

Giles turned out to be one of the steals of the offseason, having cost the Pirates only left-hander Ricardo Rincon, who has had an off year with the Indians.

"I think it's been a good year for me. I had the chance to be an everyday player for the first time in my career and I feel I proved I can do that," Giles said. "I had a lot of fun this year. I like it here, this situation is a lot better than I thought it would be before I got here. I don't think we're far away from contending."

Giles is the fourth Pirates regular to sustain a serious injury this season. Catcher Jason Kendall dislocated his right ankle and was lost for the season on the Fourth of July, shortstop Pat Meares has missed all but 17 games with damaged tendons in his left hand and third baseman Ed Sprague broke his left hand earliethis week.

Kendall's injury was the most serious. Batting .332 at the time of his injury, he still hasn't resumed running and probably won't be allowed to hit again until December.

Kendall's injury visibly deflated the Pirates for several days and they have worn his nickname, "Kid," on their hats in tribute to him since he was hurt.

Several players questioned how good the Pirates would have been if Kendall had played the whole season his replacements have barely hit .200 and if Meares had played more than 2 1/2 weeks.

"This team is real close to being good," Sprague said.

Said Giles, "With all of the injuries we've had, I think we would have been a lot closer this year if we had stayed healthy, and I think we would have contended in the division."

The Pirates have had 20 players on the disabled list, or four-fifths of a normal 25-man roster. They had 13 players on the DL at one point, and have had players lose 1,233 games to injury.

Because the season is nearly over, the Pirates won't bother putting Giles on the disabled list. They did activate Meares, who may play several games in Milwaukee and Chicago to test his injured hand.