Final games memorable

[tworoosters]

A pair of Miracles stars played their last games on the final weekend of the season and both went out in style.

Bennet Holiday made his last appearance in the BHL in game #161 going eight strong innings to pick up the 221st, and final, victory of his storied career with the Miracles. Holiday was the #1 pick in the 2099 amateur draft, a pick Los Angeles acquired by winning the draft lottery and moving up to #1 off a 72 win season in 2098. Holiday debuted in the majors in 2102 and in 2104 began a stretch of 12 straight seasons with double digit victories.

Holiday was a true #1, never injured and able to go deep into games every fifth day. Holiday lead the BHL in complete games five times, in innings pitched seven times, including six straight years from 2109-2114, in shutouts four times and ERA and WHIP each twice. Holiday was a ten time All Star, 9 years consecutively, and won a Cy Young award in 2113. He was the ace on a team that made the post season seven times and won a Championship in 2109. He retires #1 in every category a starting pitcher can lead in on the Miracles all time list.

Frank Catton had to wait one day after Holiday to finish his BHL career but he made it memorable, going 4-5 with two RBI and a run scored in the last game of the season. Catton was also a 1st round draft pick, by Atlanta as the #12 selection in 2097. Catton came to Los Angeles as one piece of a major tear down deal by the Miracles in the spring of 2098 and for a long time it looked like he would be a footnote in that trade as Catton spent essentially eight full seasons in the Miracles minor leagues before finally making the team in 2106. Catton then spent the next nine seasons as a fixture in the LA infield, initially at 3B Catton made the shift to SS, where he made two All Star teams and won a Gold Glove. Rarely the first player one thought of when analyzing the Miracles roster Catton still managed to start almost 1200 games and keep his OPS above .800 until his declines brought it down.

[Hamilton2]

Congrats to both, especially Holiday, on a terrific career.

[dirtdevil]

STL OF Chris Prescott also played his last game this year. His, uh, storied career in St Louis spanned a whopping 71 games over two seasons. He batted an amazing .204 and clubbed 3 home runs. He drove in only 22 runs but he did manage to strike out 47 times- a figure made more impressive when you notice that he had only 39 hits. Weirdly, his final game may have been his best as he went 2-4 with a double, driving in two and scoring once.

Informed after the game that he wouldn't be returning next season, he said, "Good. This town sucks. You could at least have traded me back to Texas. Jerks."

[Hamilton2]

DirtDevil, that last comment made me laugh out loud. Very nice. Hahaha