Zzz….
Posted by Andy on October 19, 2009
No, the title is not commentary on the post-season. In fact, so far I'm finding it pretty thrilling.
Rather, I'm wondering if the 2009 Phillies are the first playoff team to have a starting lineup featuring three players whose names end in "Z"?
Check out the box score of Game 1 of the NLCS and you'll see what I mean: Raul Ibanez, Pedro Feliz, and Carlos Ruiz all started.
If any other team has done it, I'd think it's been within the last 40 years, as names ending in "Z" are much more common in Spanish-speaking countries than any other. I thought that perhaps the Rangers playoff teams in the mid-1990s had done it--after all they had a Rodriguez and a Gonzalez, but no other "Z-ending" players I could find.
I've also been wondering for a while if any other team (besides the Phillies) has ever had two players whose last names ended in "iz" as with Ruiz and Feliz.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:53 am
The 1998 Padres had Carlos Hernandez, Chris Gomez and Jim Leyritz starting Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.
There's one. 🙂 I don't know how to make a complete scan, so I'll stop there.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Andy, this doesn't answer your question, but it provides the answer to many similar questions:
http://mikemav.com/xbl/LLU_MLB.htm
October 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
1995 ALCS Game 5, Mariners started Edgar Martinez, Tino Martinez and Alex Diaz
October 19th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
also 2000 ALDS Game 3 and ALCS Game 6, Mariners - Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Raul Ibanez
October 19th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
You must have really liked Game 2
R Ibanez
P Feliz
C Ruiz
P Martinez
October 19th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
In Game 3 of this year's ALDS (how quickly they forget!) the Red Sox had Victor Martinez catching, David Ortiz as DH, Alex Gonzalez at short, and Clay Buchholz on the mound.
October 19th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
mets v yanks gm 3
mets had timo perez and armando benitez
yanks had martinez and orlando hernandez
jose vizcaino for the yanks and mike piazza, todd zeile and edgardo alfonzo for the mets contained z's
October 20th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Not playoff teams, but . . .
1915 Reds
Mike Gonzalez, C
Fritz Mollwitz, 1B
Fritz Von Kolnitz, 3B/OF
1915 Robins
Gus Getz, 3B
Joe Schultz, 2B/SS
Charlie Schmutz, P (1 game)
The Germans figure into this discussion, too.