and was named the PL MVP for the month of May, the team's first. He went on to be selected by fans to the Pacific League All-Star team for the 2007 All-Star Series, receiving the most votes of any player overall. With one of the All-Star games being played at the Eagles' home stadium that year, fans also voted in seven other Rakuten players, including rookie pitcher Tanaka. Rakuten finished the season with a losing record, however, for the first time they did not finish the season in last, instead finishing in fourth. At the end of the season, Yamasaki led the league in both home runs and runs batted in (RBIs) and Tanaka was awarded the PL Rookie of the Year Award. The team finished fifth next season, however, Iwakuma finished with the best earned run average (ERA) and most wins in the league after struck by injuries the previous few years. At season's end, he was presented with his and the team's first PL Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Eiji Sawamura Awards. In the 2008–09 offseason, the Eagles extended Nomura's contract to keep him on as manager for one more year. Rakuten secured second place in the Pacific League the next season and advanced to the Climax Series for the first time. A pair of complete game wins at home both by Iwakuma and Tanaka in the First Stage allowed the Eagles to advance but the team lost to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in four games in the Second Stage, ending their season. 2010–2013: From disaster to championship Rakuten hired American Marty Brown to succeed Nomura as manager. Even though Brown was signed to a two-year contract, he was let go a year later after the Eagles finished the 2010 season in last place. The club looked to Senichi Hoshino next to turn the team around. Kazuo Matsui and Akinori Iwamura, both returning from playing stints in Major League Baseball (MLB), were also added to the roster, and Teppei Tsuchiya was named as the team's first ever captain. On March 11, 2011, two weeks before the first game of the season, the Tōhoku region was struck by the largest earthquake in the country's history. The quake and the subsequent tsunami devastated the region, including the Eagles' home city of Sendai. With the season opener postponed until April 12, the team continued to train in the Kansai region because