Patriots fans vacate the north end zone seats with a little more than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter of New England’s 38-13 defeat at the hands of the upstart Dolphins at Gillette Stadium last Sunday. Says columnist Jim Donaldson: Why stick around if you’re not enjoying the game?

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

Forgive me if I’m not all that delighted by the prospect of the Red Sox finishing second in the A.L. East. Nor am I all that disappointed in Patriots fans who poured out of Gillette Stadium in the second half Sunday like school kids who were told they didn’t have to return to classes after lunch period.

Let’s start with the Pats:

When you’re used to eating filet mignon, it’s hard to get excited about hamburger.

When you usually vacation on Maui, a Saturday at Scarborough doesn’t quite measure up.

When you typically fly first class on cross-country flights, boarding a bus to make the trek from New England to L.A. isn’t all that enticing.

Speaking of sunny Southern California, that’s likely where the Sox will be heading for the playoffs. But more on that later.

The point, for Pats fans — who didn’t see anywhere near enough points produced by the Matt Cassel-led offense last Sunday — is: Why stick around if you’re not enjoying the game?

If you get a bad meal in a restaurant, there’s no requirement that you have to clean your plate before you can get up from the table.

If the movie is terrible, you don’t have to watch it until the final credits roll across the screen.

If it’s a bad book, there’s no law that says you have to finish it.

That was a stinker of a performance the Patriots put on last Sunday against a Miami team that had lost 20 of its last 21 games, including a 31-10 trouncing the week before at Arizona, which hasn’t finished over .500 since 1998.

Ellis Hobbs is upset because he and his Patriots playmates got booed? Well, boo-hoo.

Play well and you’ll be cheered. That’s what Bob Kraft is paying you for, and it’s also why the fans are paying a hefty price for a seat. I happen to be one of those people who can’t be bothered booing but, if a frustrated fan feels like venting, well, he’s paid for the privilege.

The NFL isn’t college ball. The lads are playing for pay, not dear old alma mater. Although, more and more every year, the college game seems like the professional version, especially now that fans have to pay a hefty premium over and above the price of a ticket to get the best seats.

And so, if the performance doesn’t measure up to what people feel they’re paying for, there’s no reason that, instead of getting on their feet to cheer, they simply get up and leave.

What about loyalty, you may well ask?

Spare me.

Coaches have no loyalty. Just ask Miami fans about Nick Saban. And have Patriots fans forgotten Bill Parcells’ departure following the ’96 AFC championship season? Or, 20 years before that, Chuck Fairbanks jumping from New England to Colorado?

As for players, their loyalty is — understandably — to the team that will pay them the most money. They are mercenaries, and shouldn’t complain when they’re treated that way.

Speaking of teams with the most money, only the spectacularly underachieving New York Yankees and the deeply disappointing Detroit Tigers, among American League clubs (the Mets were the highest in the N.L.), began this season with bigger payrolls than the Red Sox. The Tampa Bay Rays, who are on the brink of winning their first A.L. East title, had the second-smallest payroll in major-league baseball, spending less than every franchise except the notoriously penny-pinching Florida Marlins.

The Rays’ payroll was less than $44 million. The Sox paid their players more than $133 million. Which team would you say got more bang for its bucks?

Granted, the important thing is that, as Parcells liked to say, the Sox are “in the tournament.” They won the World Series as a wildcard team in 2004, and could do it again this year.

But finishing second to Tampa Bay is hardly reason for a champagne-popping celebration.

Yes, the Sox had injury issues this season, but so did the Rays, who at times have been without Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli and closer Troy Percival.

Yet Boston couldn’t beat them. Especially when it counted most — in September, when most people felt the Rays would succumb to the pressure of having the defending world champions breathing down their necks.

Twice this month, the Red Sox were only a few outs away from moving past the Rays into first place. Both times, Tampa battled back to win the game and retain the lead.

They came into Fenway two weeks ago and won two of three in dramatic fashion, then did the same in Florida a week later.

If the Rays remain in first, it will mean the Sox have won the division only once in the last 13 years. That’s right — once in 13 years. That was last season, when they went on to win the World Series for the second time in four years. They did finish the 2005 season tied for first in the standings but were relegated to wildcard status because they lost the season series to the Yankees.

Now, it appears, the Sox will be heading out to Anaheim next week to take on the A.L. West-champion Angels, who have beaten them in eight of nine games this season. If the Sox can win that series, then there will be reason to get excited. But another second-place finish in the division, especially given the disparity in payrolls between Boston and Tampa Bay — be still my beating heart.

jdonalds@projo.com