2006 Nashville Sounds season

The Nashville Sounds' 2006 season was the franchise's twenty-ninth year of play. The team finished the regular season with a record of 76 wins and 68 losses. They finished in a tie for first place in their division, and won a playoff game to win the American North Division title. In post-season play, the team had two wins and three losses; they won the American Conference title, but were defeated in the league championship series.

Regular season

On July 15, Nashville pitchers Carlos Villanueva, Mike Meyers, and Alec Zumwalt combined to pitch the fifth no-hitter in team history, a 2–0 win over the Memphis Redbirds.

On May 5–6, the Sounds participated in a 24-inning game against the New Orleans Zephyrs. The contest, played over the course of two days, lasted a total of eight hours and seven minutes. This game matched the longest game, in terms of innings played, in PCL history. Additionally, several team and league records were broken by both teams. The record was originally set on June 8, 1909 in a game between the San Francisco Seals and Oakland Oaks. A few years later, on September 10, 1911, the record was tied by a contest between the Sacramento Solons and Portland Beavers.

At the end of the regular season, Nashville was in a tie for first place with the Iowa Cubs. The Sounds were awarded the division title and advanced to the post-season by means of a tiebreaker—winning the regular season series versus Iowa nine games to seven.

Season standings

Post-season

American Conference finals

The American North Division champion Sounds met the American South Division champion Round Rock Express in the best-of-five American Conference finals. After splitting the first two games in Nashville, the series moved to Round Rock. The Express beat the Sounds in a 10-inning game three, before Round Rock came back to win game four, forcing a winner-take-all final game. Nashville was shut out in game five, losing the conference title in an eight-run shutout.

Roster

Awards and honors

Right fielder Nelson Cruz, center fielder Tony Gwynn, Jr., and pitcher Ben Hendrickson were named to the league's mid-season All-Star team.

Pitcher Jared Fernandez led the league with four complete games and wound up in a four-way tie for the most shutouts (2).

References

• Statistics: "2006 Nashville Sounds Statistics." The Baseball Cube. Retrieved on 28 July 2008.
• Standings: "2006 Pacific Coast League Review." The Baseball Cube. Retrieved on 28 July 2008.
• Post-season results: "Postseason History." Nashville Sounds 2008 Media Guide. 2008: 144.
• Roster: "2006 Nashville Roster." The Baseball Cube. Retrieved on 28 July 2008.
• Specific: