I was back in the LF bleachers Tuesday night for game two of the Mets/Cubs series at Wrigley.

My Dad and I entered about 515 PM for the 705 PM start. Balls were flying over the wall in BP. Many were landing in the gloves of adult ball-shaggers who navigate stairs and seats to receive their prize. Late in the Mets’ hitting session, a deep shot to left-center field struck the face of a fan who wasn’t paying attention. The fan appeared to be OK but he was taken behind the seats for a looksie by medical personnel. Cubs ushers scurried about in the aftermath looking for people who saw what happened. They acted as if they felt some responsibility for the guy’s failure to see the ball coming.

You gotta keep an eye out in the bleachers. The balls are coming at you with pretty good frequency.

Noah Syndergaard’s MLB debut was solid. He had a dazzling first frame. Upper 90’s on the gun with effective off-speed pitches. What really took wind out of his sail was a poor defensive play by Met third baseman Daniel Murphy in the bottom of the third inning. Fielding a grounder by Kris Bryant with two out, Murph dogged the throw which allowed Bryant to reach first base. Snydegaard was forced to make an additional 19 pitches to close out that inning. It was an unnecesary extension of the frame. The scorer ruled Bryant’s routine grounder a “hit” but it should have been an error on Murphy.

Met fans have long been frustrated by Murphy’s failure to make routine plays while manning the second base position. It’s an even tougher row to hoe now for Murph at third base where the throw is even more difficult for him to make quickly – and accurately.

I kinda think Murphy’s days are numbered. He’s a .300 hitter but he has no position to play. His struggles on defense offset his production at the plate.

Bryant hit a home run for the second straight night and Arrieta coasted through the Met lineup over eight strong. 6-1 Cubs was the final.

The rhetoric directed at Met LF Mike Cuddyer from numbskulls in the LF bleachers Tuesday night was beyond what I’m accustomed to hearing anywhere else in sports. This was pretty vile stuff that centered heavily on twisted sexual innuendo and the like. It bummed me out hearing it. Rather than embrace and appreciate a Cub roster with such promise, large groups of mostly young white men seemed more interested in jeering, mocking and threatening a Met player standing 15 yards away. There was nothing fun – or funny about it.

As I sat there with my Dad, I thought of Lee Elia’s diatribe and the question of Cub fan employment status. Who are these kids? How did Wrigley become such an incubator for beyond-the-pale fan conduct?

On the flipside, it warmed my sports fan soul to see Met manager Terry Collins locked in animated discussion with Monday night’s starter Jake DeGrom during BP. Collins and DeGrom appeared to be offering give-and-take on the subject of the young pitcher’s throwing motion. Television analyst Ron Darling said Tuesday that something about DeGrom’s delivery has changed since his successful rookie campaign. Collins and DeGrom (pictured above) took turns simulating different arm angles and release points. Collins was clearly in instruction/guidance mode and DeGrom was enthusiastically all-ears.

Later, Collins could be seen talking at length to a group of fans down the third base line.

The things you don’t see or hear on TV/radio game broadcasts are often some of the richest moments of the in-house experience.

16-ounce cans of Old Style poured into a plastic cup are $8 – not the $8.50 I cited in yesterday’s recap.

The encroachment of Sheffield Avenue by the yet-to-be-completed renovation of the RF bleachers is kind of hard to digest given what that thoroughfare has looked like since I was a kid. It’ll get better I guess when the construction perimeter is removed – but we’re talking about a neighborhood that appears to be slowly getting squeezed by the owner of a ballpark who knows he has leverage. I’m not up to speed on the machinations of the City of Chicago’s oversight of Wrigley’s renovations over the last couple years but it looks to me like gaudy is winning the fight over restraint. If Ricketts isn’t careful, he’s gonna ruin the place with one too many bright and shiny accessories, fixtures or expansions.

Harvey goes tonight. I’m not the kind of sports fan who needs my team to win but I’d love to see #33 shut down the Cubs Wednesday if only to quiet the stooges in LF.

My Dad and I took a Howard-bound Red to Morse after the game. We had parked his car there earlier. The drive from there to my brother’s house in Park Ridge is about 25 minutes.

That’s it for now. Let’s score some runs.