2000 Taiwan Series

From BR Bullpen

The 2000 Taiwan Series featured the Uni-President Lions topping the Sinon Bulls in 7 games.

The Lions had finished last in the first half of the 2000 CPBL regular season at 17-27-1 but won the second half at 27-16-2. They were managed by Chi-Chen Tseng. They had two players picked to the Best Ten in OF Lien-Hung Chen (.304/.422/.521) and DH Min-Ching Lo (.319/.434/.535) while OF Kan-Lin Huang (.311/.365/.387) led in steals (42). The top pitchers were John Burgos (19-5, 2.37), Chun-Liang Wu (4-8, 2.72) and save leader Maximo De La Rosa (2-1, 13 Sv, 3.03).

The Bulls had won the first half at 27-17-1 then were 24-21 in the second half for the best overall record. Their skipper was Jun-Lang Wang. Three players made the Best Ten: C Chun-Chang Yeh (.264/.316/.400), 2B Chung-Yi Huang (.354/.432/.514, 23 SB) and 3B Tai-Shan Chang (.254/.300/.414). Huang led the CPBL in average and RBI (54) while Chung-Chiu Lin (.281/.362/.493) led in home runs (15) and Wen-Bin Chen hit .261/.317/.457. Mark Kiefer (20-3, 1.62) led in wins and ERA while Osvaldo Martínez (14-8, 2.72) and Feng-Yu Weng (8-5, 12 Sv, 3.15) also pitched well.

On October 14, the Lions won a 9-3 decision, Burgos getting the win over Kiefer in a duel of import aces. The Lions got three home runs, from Min-Ching Lo (who drove in the winner), Chi-Feng Chen (who was named game MVP) and Hung-Yuan Lin. The Bulls took game 2 a day later, 6-1, Martínez over Wu. Chia-Hao Chang drove in the winner while Martínez was named game MVP. On October 17, the Lions came back in another rout, 9-2, scoring 5 in the first. Kiefer again was crushed in a loss while Chang-Heng Hsieh got the win. Min-Ching Lo drove in the winner. Sung-Yung Lo homered in a losing cause while game MVP Wen-Chung Chang went deep for the victors.

On October 18, the Lions went up 3 games to 1 with the first close win, 2-1. Chao-Huang Lin got the win and Martínez the loss, while De La Rosa saved it. Chung-Kuang Lai drove in the winner. Tai-Shan Chang homered for the Bulls' lone run while Lo went deep for the Lions. Hung-Yuan Lin was game MVP. Sinon then won a 2-1 game on October 19, 41-year-old veteran Chieh-Jen Yang beating Burgos to win game MVP, while Wang saved the win. Chung-Chiu Lin homered for Sinon and Lo hit his third home run for the only Lions run.

Game 6, on October 21, was a second straight one-run win for Sinon, this time winning it in the bottom of the 9th. Martínez got his second win, while Lung-Wei Kao lost it. Yeh drove in the winner and was game MVP, while Tai-Shan Chang homered in a winning cause and Lo homering yet again for the Lions. On October 22, the Lions won a 4-1 game to end it, Burgos getting the win, De La Rosa the save and Feng-Yu Wang the loss. Lo hit his 5th and 6th home runs, got the game-winning RBI for the second time and was game MVP. Lo was named Taiwan Series MVP for his record-setting home run performance in the Series.

Primary Source: Taiwan Wiki Baseball