ATLANTA -- Just when it seemed like Braves manager Bobby Cox had been ejected in every feasible manner, veteran umpire Joe West seemingly found a new way to add to Cox's record ejection total.

The still-feisty Cox has enjoyed numerous face-to-face yelling matches with umpires throughout his career. Most of the time, he's been arguing about the strike zone or a close call. Now, he can actually say that he's also been tossed because of stadium lights.

After ruling that the fifth inning wouldn't begin until all of the stadium lights at Turner Field were turned on, West heard some magic words from Cox and promptly ejected the veteran skipper, who never left the dugout while issuing a few more choice words before heading toward the clubhouse.

While acknowledging that he gave West reason to toss him, Cox didn't believe West needed to delay the game in both the fourth and fifth innings because of the lights.

"What [the umpires] don't understand is how long it takes to turn the lights on," said Cox, after seeing his all-time ejections record increase to 142.

Cox explained that once a stadium worker gets to where the lights are turned on, they have to turn eight different keys. In addition, it takes time for the lights to become fully illuminated.

During the top of the fourth inning, West, who serves as the crew chief, requested that the lights be turned on because of overcast conditions. By the time they became illuminated, it was the bottom half of the inning.

After Omar Infante and Mark Kotsay delivered consecutive one-out fourth-inning doubles off Cubs starter Jason Marquis, West halted play because Chicago hadn't had the benefit of the lights in the top half of the inning. This caused a short delay while the lights were turned off.

Then after Vladimir Nunez delivered his final warmup pitch before the top of the fifth, West halted play again to wait for the lights to be turned back on. This infuriated Cox and caused him to yell in West's direction at third base.

"They should ask us to turn them on in the bottom half of the inning, and then they'd be on when [the opposing team] comes to bat in the next inning," Cox said.

West, who is nicknamed "The Cowboy," encountered a similar incident while working a Sept. 3, 2007, game played between the Cubs and Dodgers. After ruling that the lights be turned off in the bottom of the fourth inning, he forced Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano to wait until the Wrigley Field lights were fully lit before delivering the first pitch of the fifth inning.

"The Cowboy thought he was an electrician today," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said after that game. "He wanted the lights on, but he wanted them on when the Dodgers came up in the home half of the fifth.

"What happens [at Wrigley Field] is it takes a while once you turn them off to get the juice back flowing. I told the Cowboy he's a good umpire, but an electrician he's not."

Plate umpire Ed Rapuano got into the ejection game in the ninth inning, when he tossed Braves left-handed reliever Francisley Bueno after he threw a fastball that went over Alfonso Soriano's head.

Because the pitch was so close to his head, the Braves understood Rapuano's decision. Soriano missed six weeks after breaking his left hand courtesy of a June 11 pitch delivered by Braves right-hander Jeff Bennett.

Bueno, who was making his Major League debut, hadn't pitched since tossing 4 2/3 innings for Triple-A Richmond on June 27. He'd already worked 2 1/3 innings and surrendered a Geovany Soto two-run homer three batters before Soriano came to the plate in the ninth inning.

During his previous at-bat against Bueno in the eighth inning, Soriano had scorched a liner off the left-field wall and was limited to a single because he jogged down the first-base line.