| 2006 Japan Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 21–26 | |||||||||
| MVP | Atsunori Inaba (Fighters) | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | ||||||||||
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The 2006 Japan Series , the 57th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 26, and matched the Central League champion Chunichi Dragons against the Pacific League champion, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The Fighters won the Series in five games, taking Games 2,3,4 and 5.
| Game | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Score | Time | Attendance | |
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| 1 | October 21 | Nippon Ham | 2 | Chunichi | 4 | 6:10 pm | 38,009 | |
| 2 | October 22 | Nippon Ham | 5 | Chunichi | 2 | 6:10 pm | 38,095 | |
| 3 | October 24 | Chunichi | 1 | Nippon Ham | 6 | 6:10 pm | 41,798 | |
| 4 | October 25 | Chunichi | 0 | Nippon Ham | 3 | 6:10 pm | 41,835 | |
| 5 | October 26 | Chunichi | 1 | Nippon Ham | 4 | 6:10 pm | 42,030 | |
| Nippon Ham wins 4-1 | ||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nippon Ham | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Chunichi | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 4 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Kenshin Kawakami (1-0) LP: Yu Darvish (0-1) Sv: Hitoki Iwase (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Game 1 saw both aces pitch for their respective teams: Darvish for the Fighters, Kawakami for the Dragons. Both pitchers started off well, but Darvish, who had bouts with wildness in the regular season, saw his control unravel in the 2nd inning, giving away the 2-0 Fighters lead to which he had been staked in the top of the inning. Chunichi scratched across one more in the 3rd and one in the 8th to put the home Dragons on top, 4-2. Longtime Dragons closer Iwase shut down the Fighters in the 9th to put the Dragons on top 1 game to none.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nippon Ham | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Chunichi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Tomoya Yagi (1-0) LP: Masa Yamamoto (0-1) Sv: Micheal Nakamura (1) Home runs: NHF: Fernando Seguignol (1) CHU: Hirokazu Ibata (1), Kosuke Fukudome (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Super rookie Tomoya Yagi took the mound for Nippon Ham in Game 2, still flying high from out-dueling SoftBank Hawks ace Kazumi Saitoh. He would out-duel another veteran, this time screwballer Masahiro Yamamoto. In the battle of the lefties, the only two mistakes Yagi would make would be to Hirokazu Ibata and Kosuke Fukudome, both solo shots.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nippon Ham | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | X | 6 | 7 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Masaru Takeda (1-0) LP: Kenta Asakura (0-1) Home runs: CHU: None NHF: Atsunori Inaba (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nippon Ham | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 3 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Satoru Kanemura (1-0) LP: Kenichi Nakata (0-1) Sv: Michael Nakamura (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nippon Ham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | 4 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Yu Darvish (1-1) LP: Kenshin Kawakami (1-1) Sv: Michael Nakamura (3) Home runs: CHU: None NHF: Fernando Seguignol (2), Atsunori Inaba (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Game 5 would also be Tsuyoshi Shinjo's last game as he announced his retirement at the beginning of the 2006 season. With the win, Shinjo ended his career in storybook fashion, finally winning his first Japan Series title in his final season. Manager Trey Hillman then became the second foreign manager to win a Japan Series title, following Bobby Valentine, who did it the previous year.
The Japan Series, also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League, and is played in October or November. The first team to win four games is the overall winner and is declared the Japan Series Champion each year. The Japan Series uses a 2–3–2 format.
The Chunichi Dragons are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times and the Japan Series twice. They were also champions in the 2007 Asia Series.
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