First off, the business ...

on Saturday, I'll be watching the Evil Empire battle the plucky little Orioles and everyone's favorite giant slayer, Miguel Tejada ...

Doing so (and just generally being 3,000 miles away), sadly, will preclude me from watching our own beloved A's beat the hated Angels into submission ...

Which leaves my 2 Sec 105, Row 14 tickets needing a new home. Face value is $30 each ... but how about $50 for the pair?

On to Jay Payton ...

We in the left field bleachers were somewhat less than thrilled with the 9th inning work of the far from illustrious home plate ump .... and as the left field bleachers often is, we were quite vocal with our feelings.

In the bottom half of the frame, left fielder Jay Payton was punched out on a very questionable call (since I can totally call balls and strikes from the bleachers, I was more peeved about the fact that he didn't even ask the first base ump for help) and proceeded to launch into a heated tirade, which quickly got him tossed.

What I wonder is ... did the left field bleachers get Payton tossed? Was our frustration what set Payton on edge, allowing one bad call to set him off?