2006 Caribbean Series

The 2006 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the thirtieth-sixth edition of the second stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held at Estadio Jose Perez Colmenares in Maracay and Valencia, Venezuela from February 2 to February 7. The series featured four teams from Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan League won the series and were managed by Carlos Subero. The Most Valuable Player was Ramón Hernández a first baseman with the Leones del Caracas.

Caracas had started the regular season 21-22 before Subero became the manager. Under him, they won 14 of 19 to make the playoffs. After splitting their first 12, they won four necessary games in a row to make the finals. They started off with a 17-1 rout of the reigning champion Mazatlan Deer, tossed aside the Puerto Rican champs 6-1 and rallied to beat the Licey Tigers 11-9. In game four, they beat the Deer 4-3 in extra innings and topped Puerto Rico 5-1. That sent them in to the finals against the Tigers, who were 4-1 and could force a 7th game with a win.

Geremi Gonzalez started for the Venezuelans in the finale and fell behind 3-0 after 3 and a half thanks to a Marco Scutaro error and a sacrifice fly by Jose Offerman to score Ron Belliard. In the 4th, Caracas scored on a homer by Hernández. With two outs in the 6th, Franklin Gutierrez singled in Scutaro and Hernández with a shot to right off of Jose Valverde; Timo Perez dove for the ball but couldn't catch it. Sandy Martinez homered in the 7th to put the Tigers in front again. In the bottom of the 9th, Jorge Sosa gave up two hits to the Leones. Alex Gonzalez then singled in pinch-runner William Bergolla. Henry Blanco popped up to shallow left field but Dominican SS Erick Aybar had the ball bounce off of his head, letting Gonzalez score from first. This gave a Venezuelan team their first win in a Caribbean Series in 17 years and Caracas its first title in 24 years.

Caracas outscored their opponents 45-15, hit .327 and had a staff ERA of 2.62. MVP Ramón Hernández hit .524 with 6 runs, 3 HR and 8 RBI. Alex Gonzalez hit .409 and Alex Cabrera (.360, 2 HR) drove in seven. Geremi Gonzalez (1-0, 1.20) fanned 12 in 15 innings and had the lowest ERA in the Series, followed by teammate Landon Jacobsen (1.29, 3 H in 7 IP).

For Licey, Alexis Gomez (.500, 6 R) led the way offensively and Daniel Cabrera (1-0, 1.80, 2 H in 5) led the staff.

Puerto Rico got some solid work from Ruben Gotay (.368) and Luis D. Figueroa (.364, 5 RBI).

For the hapless defending champs from Mazatlan, Edgar Gonzalez did hit .524 with 3 HR and Luis Cruz batted .375 with 2 more homers.

Final Standings[edit]

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Leones del Caracas	VEN Venezuelan League	6	6	0	1.000	Carlos Subero
Tigres del Licey	DOM Dominican League	6	4	2	0.667	Rafael Landestoy
Gigantes de Carolina	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	2	4	0.333	Lino Rivera
Venados de Mazatlán	MEX Mexican Pacific League	6	0	6	0.000	Juan José Pacho