2002 Taiwan Series

The 2002 Taiwan Series was the second of three straight Taiwan Series titles for the Brother Elephants.

The Elephants won the 2002 CPBL first half (25-17-3) and second half (28-16-1) under manager I-Tseng Lin. They had three players named to the Best Ten: 1B Feng-An Tsai (.294/.343/.529, a league-high 84 RBI), OF Chih-Yuan Chen (.289/.373/.519, 15 HR, 32 SB) and DH Cheng-Min Peng (.310/.445/.588, 18 HR, 71 RBI). Jui-Chang Chen hit .356/.410/.443 in limited playing time. Jonathan Hurst (16-8, 2.65, the co-leader in wins) and Shin Nakagomi (15-9, 3.26) provided strong pitching.

The Chinatrust Whales were making their last Taiwan Series appearance. Managed by Chung-Chiu Lin, they were 21-21-3 in the first half and 24-21 in the second half. Despite the worse record, they had the same number of Best Nine picks: 3B Chien-Wei Chen (.334/.434/.440, the leader in average), OF Sung-Hsien Yang (.320/.355/.440) and P Chao-Chi Sung (16-8, 2.13, 183 K, who won the pitching Triple Crown and was named CPBL MVP). Other key players were Wen-Bin Chen (.290/.381/.622, 26 HR), Chi-Feng Hung (.303/.392/.505), Chien-Fu Kuo Lee (5-3, 2.32, a league-leading 16 saves) and Hiroaki Nakayama (12-10, 2.80).

Games

Game 1

October 12 at Tienmu Baseball Field (11,000)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chinatrust Whales	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
Brother Elephants	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	4	X	6	9	0

Whales: Hiroaki Nakayama (L, 0-1) - Yu-Chan Liu

Elephants: Shin Nakagomi (W, 1-0)

Home Run Wen-Bin Chen (1), Cheng-Min Peng (1), Sheng-Hsien Feng (1)

Under a new rule (which was later seemingly rescinded), a team that won both halves of the season got credited with a win for the Taiwan Series, meaning the Elephants started Game 1 officially ahead 1 game to 0. The Elephants won the opener, 6-1, in a matchup of Japanese import pitchers, Nakagomi beating Nakayama. Sheng-Hsien Feng drove in the winner. Wen-Bin Chen homered for the losers, Peng and Feng homering for the victors.

Game 2

October 13 at XinZhuang Baseball Stadium (7,500)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chinatrust Whales	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	1	0	5	11	4
Brother Elephants	3	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	6	12	1

Whales: Chao-Chi Sung (L, 0-1) - Chien-San Kao - Cheng-Hsun Hsieh - Yu-Chan Liu - Chien-Fu Kuo Lee

Elephants: Jonathan Hurst (W, 1-0)

The next day, the Elephants won 6-5 thanks to four Whales errors. Hurst got the win over Sung in a showdown of aces while Chih-Yuan Chen drove in the winner.

Game 3

October 15 at Chiayi Baseball Field (7,101)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brother Elephants	0	0	0	2	1	1	2	0	3	9	20	1
Chinatrust Whales	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	5	13	1

Elephants: Chin-Li Wang (W, 1-0) - Jen-Wen Hsiao (S, 1)

Whales: Chien-San Kao - Chao-Chi Sung - Hiroaki Nakayama (L, 0-2) - Chien-Fu Kuo Lee - Yu-Chan Liu

Home Run Chih-Yuan Chen (1), Chi-Feng Hung (1), Tsung-Hui Tong (1)

The Elephants banged out 20 hits in a 9-5 romp. Chin-Li Wang got the win over Nakayama with Jen-Wen Hsiao saving it. Chi-Feng Hung and Tsung-Hui Tong homered for the Whales while Chih-Yuan Chen went deep in a winning cause. Tsai drive in the game-winning run.

Peng was named Taiwan Series MVP.

Source: Taiwan Baseball Wiki