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What's It Like To Live At Fenway? by Jared Carrabis
I'll tell you. The Sox are rolling with no empty seats

You may be wondering why there wasn't a blog after Tuesday's victory against the Florida Marlins.

Well, I'd like to explain why there's a great reason why you readers went blogless after the Sox' 8-2 victory over Hanley and the fish. These aren't the "Phish" that attract clouds of smoke, these are the "fish" that attract consecutive victories. On Tuesday, Fenway Park honored Red Sox fans by hosting Red Sox Nation Day. Being that I was elected the Red Sox Nation Governor of Massachusetts, the Red Sox invited me and a guest of my choosing to America's most beloved ballpark before anyone else along with 37 of the 50 RSN Governors.

I'll try to sum the story up the best I can so that this blog doesn't turn into another chapter of my book. Basically, you've all gone SoxSpace blogless because I've spent the last 23 of the last 32 hours that I've been awake at Fenway Park. It has been one of the most memorable experiences that I have ever had as a Red Sox fan, and I'd love to share some of it with you.

Just so that all of you know; Julio Lugo has a lifetime free pass from me here on SoxSpace for as long as I write. As all of the Governors were escorted onto the field to watch the Red Sox take batting practice, a handful of them were shouting players' names to try and interact with their baseball heroes; none of them responded. However, when Julio Lugo walked by, I shouted, "Four hits tonight!" Lugo smiled and pointed to me. When he turned to walk away, I yelled, "Five hits!" Lugo then turned and said, "Even better!"

When Lugo made his way out of the batting cage, he pointed to me and rolled a ball right to my feet. Though he is the subject of much scrutiny in here Boston from the fans and the media, he continues to go about doing his job, trying to improve, all with a smile on his face. He genuinely appreciated my words of encouragement, and for that, I will continue to support him.

One surprise that I have up my sleeve for you SoxSpace readers, I also spoke to the Boston Globe's Tony Massarotti. Mazz took some time out of his busy schedule to chat with me, and later in our conversation, he agreed to do an exclusive Q&A blog with SoxSpace. Mazz has always been my favorite Boston sports writer, so you can only imagine how excited I was when he agreed to do it. So whenever I whip up a batch full of questions for Mazz, your eyes will be the first to read it.

That night before the game, the Red Sox let the Governors and me walk in from the center field gate, around the warning track alongside the Green Monster and down the left field line, before coming to a stop at home plate (yes, the grass is spongy). As we made our way towards the home plate area, there were SoxSpace readers from all over shouting over towards me. Yeah, we were supposed to stay in line because our states were in alphabetical order, but rules were meant to be broken. I went over and shook the hands of the SoxSpace readers, thanked them for reading and informed them that their support was greatly appreciated. Speaking of support, there was a sign in center field that was addressed to me personally. Although I can't say what the sign said, I think the girl that was holding it up is a keeper.

The RSN Governor of California threw out the first pitch (she traveled the farthest) and our group of Red Sox Nation Governors said in unison, "Play ball!" Before the Red Sox could take the field, the Govs and I had to walk past the Red Sox dugout before making our exit into canvas alley. As we walked in front of the Red Sox dugout, the faces of Jason Bay, JD Drew, Tim Wakefield and Dustin Pedroia stared at us like we had a million heads. I took it as a compliment.

My mom Ellyn and I took our seat behind home plate (cue the awww's). From there, we watched the Red Sox cruise to an 8-2 victory over the Florida Marlins. Complete with a rocket off the bat of David Ortiz, his fifth of the season, Boston started their first series against the Marlins at Fenway since 2003 with a bang.

I got home at about midnight and I wanted to blog about the game, but I had to be at Fenway the next morning by nine, which meant being up by 7:30am. If I wasn't going to be well rested enough to wake up to an alarm, I couldn't risk the blog-writing process, which takes about 2-2.5 hours. When I woke up, SoxSpace contributor Mike Ghika and I made our way to Fenway Park. The breakfast for the RSN Governors was held at the EMC level (or the old .406 Club for those who aren't familiar with the EMC level).

There, we were graced with the presence of Theo Epstein's right hand man, Assistant General Manager, Jed Hoyer. Hoyer spoke to us about the hot topics in Baseball Operations right now. He touched on the MLB Draft, which took place just a few days ago, and he fielded questions from the Governors. My question was a draft related question. Since I watched video of the Red Sox' top three draft picks, I became most interested in their third overall pick, an 18-year-old shortstop/pitcher by the name of David Renfroe. Renfroe and I are Facebook buds (no big deal) and I saw him play in the Under Armour High School All-America Game. I saw this kid Renfroe put one out of Wrigley Field in that very game, and ever since, I've been intrigued as to what his path to the big leagues was going to look like.

When the Red Sox used their third pick to draft this kid, there was the beginning sentence to my multiple-page long answer of what his path may be. When I asked Hoyer if the Red Sox were close to signing him, he was honest. "Not really." He spoke of how Renfroe wants to break into the bigs in the Red Sox organization, but the Sox are not close to signing the 18-year-old who hit .470 in his senior year.

After the breakfast, Ghika and I sat out on the EMC level at about 11am, which the best grounds crew in baseball did their thing. One of their duties on the day wasn't one that the GC often tackle on a daily basis. With the Red Sox aiming to sell out their 500th home game in a row on Wednesday night, the grounds crew went to work on a giant "500" in the outfield grass all morning long. Eight hours later, Ghika and I were two fans accounted for out of the 38,196.

In Brad Penny's first start since shutting out the Yankees through six innings, the right-hander (who is now eligible to be traded without his permission) lasted five innings, giving up just one run on three hits; the run was unearned coming on Jacoby Ellsbury's first Major League error. Penny had some control issues, walking four batters, which ultimately led to an early exit after hurling 100 pitches.

In support of Penny's efforts, Dustin Pedroia revived his bat, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBI. Ellsbury, hitting out of the two-hole, was causing trouble on the base paths by walking twice, stealing his 28th base of the season and hitting his third home run as well. It's worth noting that David Ortiz was 1-for-2 tonight with a pair of walks, but received a standing ovation from the crowd after hitting an opposite field double that drove in zero runs; that's just how much these fans love to see Big Papi succeed.

The Red Sox bullpen was lights out, as usual, to secure Boston's victory in game two. Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez and Jonathan Papelbon all combined to toss one scoreless inning each, keeping the Marlins off the scoreboard while the Black Pearl was at work.

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

First thing's first: the Red Sox just announced a new partnership with Comcast. If you have Comcast, listen closely. Go to your On Demand section, click "Get Local", then click "Red Sox On Demand" and have a blast; no need to thank me.

Brad Penny may have improved to an unexpected, but highly respectable, 6-2 record, but his sixth win of the season may impress more baseball fans if he lets them in on the secret that it was also the 100th win of Penny's career. Coincidentally, he threw 100 pitches to secure career victory number 100.

Entering Wednesday's game, Jacoby Ellsbury had played in 232 games and went a total of 1941.1 innings without committing an error in 554 total chances. On Wednesday, Ellsbury committed the very first error in his Major League career in a game he started in center field. He more than compensated for his error, which led to a Florida run, by crushing a ball over the right field wall. In his last five games, Ellsbury is red hot going 8-for-19 with two long balls, 5 RBI, 5 runs scored and he's showing more plate patience, walking five times too.

Before this home stand, Dustin Pedroia was 2 for his last 28. Since the Marlins have come to town, Pedroia is 5 for his last 10. He was 2-for-2 with the bases loaded on Wednesday.

The Red Sox have always performed exceedingly well at home, as they have plenty of fans watching them that paid good money to see a win. During the sellout streak, which began back in May of 2003, the Red Sox have went 327-173 in front of a packed house every night. Boston flaunts one of the best home records in baseball this season at 23-8. The Sox broke the Major League record for most consecutive home sellouts last September when the Sox played in front of a sellout crowd for the 456th consecutive time. On Wednesday, the Sox expanded their Major League record streak to 500 games. The Sox won their 40th game of 2009 and have won six of their last seven games.

So, that's my two-day stay at Fenway all summed up for you SoxSpacers out there. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! (impossible).
-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Marlins 1, Red Sox 6