With 11 games played in the new season, the Portland Sea Dogs, with seven wins and four losses, are tied for second place in the East Division of the Eastern League. Sure, it’s very early, and 142 games is a long season, but this team displays an intensity and drive that predicts an exciting, interesting and successful season.

Among the several reasons for this optimism are a pair of highly rated prospects: Henry Owens, Boston’s top pitching prospect, and Mookie Betts, ranked as the Red Sox No. 7 prospect by trade publication “Baseball America.”

In fact, this talented duo was just honored by the Eastern League as the season’s first Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Owens was an easy and obvious choice for the honor: The 21-year-old lefthander opened the season with a no-hitter. Issuing two walks in the first inning produced the only base runners that the Reading Fighting Phils had; Owens set the final 16 batters down in order.

Although the game was shortened by rain to six innings, the game was recorded as a complete game no-hitter. Owens followed up with 6.2 innings of no-run, six-hit pitching, while striking out nine, the same total he recorded in the no-hitter.

Mookie Betts hit .457 during the opening 10 days of the season, with five doubles, one triple and one home run. The homer was hit during the first at-bat of the year, on the way to a 5-0 win. Betts has scored 11 runs and driven in four – admirable stats for a lead-off hitter, and proof that if he gets on base, more often than not, someone will drive him home.

After closing out the first home stand, the Sea Dogs travel to New Britain and Binghamton before returning on Friday, April 25, for games with the Trenton Thunder and the Reading Fighting Phils.

Mookie Betts slams a double and drives in a run during the Sea Dogs 10-4 win over New Britain on Saturday.Behold the effectiveness of a perfect changeup: following a 91-mph fastball, the batter has already swung at the 69-mph pitch before the ball crosses the plate.