2006 Korean Series

The 2006 Korean Series was the 24th Korean Series. The Samsung Lions won their second straight Series.

Samsung was first in the 2006 KBO regular season (73-50-3) under manager Dong-yol Son. They had four players winning Gold Gloves as the best overall player at their position: C Kab-yong Jin (.288/.343/.399), SS Jin-man Park (.283/.380/.432), OF Han-lee Park (.285/.393/.376, a league-high 89 runs) and DH Joon-hyuk Yang (.303/.445/.477, a league-best 103 walks). Seung-hwan Oh (4-3, 47 Sv, 1.59) led the league in saves. Oh-joon Kwon (9-1, 2 Sv, 1.69) was a fine set-up man while the top starting pitchers on the team were Young-soo Bae (8-9, 2.92) and Tim Harikkala (12-7, 3.33).

The Hanwha Eagles, managed by In-sik Kim, had finished third at 67-57-2 then topped the KIA Tigers and Hyundai Unicorns in the playoffs. They were led by pitching Triple Crown winner/KBO MVP/KBO Rookie of the Year/Gold Glove pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu (18-6, 2.23, 204 K in 201 2/3 IP), a one-man highlight reel. He had some help on the mound from Dong-hwan Moon (16-9, Sv, 3.27) and Dae-sung Koo (3-4, 37 Sv, 1.82). Jay Davis (.284/.370/.442, 21 HR) and Gold Glove 3B Bum-ho Lee (.257/.363/.463, 20 HR) provided the pop while Tae-kyun Kim (.291/.405/.447) got on base often.

The Series opened October 21 with Samsung winning 4-0, beating Ryu. Bae got the win and Kwon the save. Two days later, Hanwha got their lone win, 6-2, as Dong-hwan Moon beat Jamie Brown. Davis smacked a two-run homer for some late insurance. In Game 3 on October 25, Samsung won 4-3 in 12 innings. Tae-kyun Kim and Kwang-ho Shin both homered in a losing cause, while Jin-man Park (who would win Korean Series MVP) got the winning hit. Kwon won, Koo lost and Bae got a save.

On October 26, Samsung won 4-2 in 10 innings, Bae winning, Moon losing and Oh picking up a save. Jin started the scoring with a second-inning homer while Sang-hun Han homered in the 4th for the last Hanwha run. On the 28th, the teams battled for 5 hours and 15 minutes in a 15-inning 1-1 tie. It set a record for longest Series game that stood until 2013. On October 29, the Lions won, 3-2, getting all their runs in the first two innings. Harikkala got the victory, Oh the save and Young-myung An the loss, while Tae-kyun Kim hit a 8th-inning homer for the last run.

Primary Source: Korean Wikipedia