Unfortunately only one game was played this week due to the rain.  Inshallah the games that were missed will be made up soon.

So the 2-0 Eagles went up against the 1-1 Owls this week and maybe now it’s time for us to start to retract some of our previous thoughts on the Eagles.

For the first time in league history, a pitcher has thrown 2 straight complete game shutouts.  Captain Hussein Allidina pitched 6 innings, threw 3 strikeouts (including to Kumail Meghani in the only at-bat they actually had the guts to pitch to him) and gave up only 4 hits all game.  One error and only one Owl reached 3rd base all game long.

Defensively, we have to take our hats off to the squad who proved they are for real.  Down a man in the OF again this week, we saw zero errors from the OF who made 8 Fly Ball Outs and the infield had a number of stellar plays on the 6 ground balls outs they recorded.  

Offensively, it was clear that taking your best player and making him pitch isn’t a recipe for success.  With Asad Nasser arriving late to the game (something that opponent Abbasali Kermali clearly noticed and let his opinion be known) Kumail Meghani started the game as pitcher and gave up 5 hits and 3 Earned Runs. Asad Nasser did make his presence felt for the next four innings as he struck out 4 on 4 hits and only allowed the Eagles 2 earned runs after his arrival.  As we said, any game before noon will be a struggle for the Owls as their starting pitcher will have trouble arriving on time.

Although the Owls have very little to show after being shut out, one thing’s for certain: Shane Nasser can smoke a ball.  He was robbed of a hit a couple of times but was swinging a seriously hot bat that clearly is a sign of things to come.

Now we are still not sold on number one draft pick Ali Manek, but again credit where credit is due, he had an uncharacteristically stellar defensive presence against the Owls, even ending the game on a leaping grab and throw to first for the double play.  And unlike last week, he is now leading the league in the following offensive categories: Runs, Hits, RBIs, AVG, SLG, and OBP, albeit some due to the fact that he’s played an extra game.