The world atlas suggests that a significant portion of the Pacific Ocean separates Hawai'i from the San Francisco Bay area.

But we're told MLB Extra Innings, which packages baseball games nationwide for viewing, maintains that our state is attached to the Bay Area "market."

Mileage charts say we're about 2,500 removed from the continent.

But MLB Extra innings apparently insists that if San Francisco Giants or Oakland A's games aren't sold out more than 48 hours in advance, Hawai'i — because it is part of the "local market" — doesn't get to see them, either. Never mind that driving, walking or paddling there is an impossibility.

The situation is a comical guess-who-failed-geography joke, unless you are a fan of the A's or Giants. And a sizeable group here certainly is.

Small wonder, then, that fans of Oakland are up in arms about more than just the A's habitation of the American League West cellar. Try following Maui's Kurt Suzuki, the Oakland catcher, if ESPN doesn't pick up the game or the A's aren't playing one of the Los Angeles teams on Fox. Likewise for fans of the Giants as they pursue a National League wildcard berth.

Meanwhile, to the additional torment of fans of Bay Area teams, both Dodgers and Angels games are more widely available,

A group of dedicated fans here has been tied in e-mail knots trying to get to the bottom of the curious situation, much less get anything done about it.

Ask the Giants, the A's, MLB, DirecTV, Comcast SportsNet, Oceanic Time Warner, you name it, and the finger pointing goes round and round.

"We're about ready to go medieval on somebody over this issue ..." wrote Doug Carlson, one of the spokesmen for the aggrieved fans, in an e-mail.

Oceanic vice president of operations Norman Santos said he understands the frustration, particularly the nonsensical "market" concept. "We have been asking this question for a few years now but Major League Baseball moves even slower than melting of the Polar ice caps," Santos wrote in an e-mail.

"So I would expect that after they (baseball) solve the banned substance issue, whether or not Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame, should the All Star Game determine the home field for the World Series, and should the designated hitter be a part of baseball only then may they get around to figuring that Hawaii is separated from the West Coast by 2,500 miles of water," Santos wrote.

Hawai'i isn't getting any nearer to the continent and the distance to a solution of the TV issue apparently isn't getting any closer, either.