Juan Uribe gets magical assist for his next hidden-ball trick

The hand is faster than the eye, which Juan Uribe could well tell you.

It was Uribe who was caught with the ol’ hidden-ball trick Saturday by the Tampa Bay Rays. Uribe was standing on third base, basically just changed his weight from one foot to the other on the bag, and in that split second in between was tagged out by a gleeful third baseman Evan Longoria.

The play did not end up costing the Dodgers, though you can be sure they spared no effort in giving Uribe plenty of grief for his gaffe. Adrian Gonzalez presented Uribe with the third-base bag after the game, complete with a shoe taped to the base.

No one, though, got into the good-time ribbing more than utility man Jerry Hairston Jr.

Hairston enlisted the assistance of Jason Latimer, a world champion magician, to teach Uribe a new lesson in the hidden-ball trick.

Latimer’s version is a nifty quick-of-hand routine that has the ball mysteriously appearing seemingly from nowhere to fall out of a Dodgers’ cap.

Uribe sat with his mouth agape at Latimer, but then the magician apparently broke a few cardinal rules, and along with conspirator Hairston, teaches Uribe how to try to pull off the trick.

“Wow,” Uribe said.

Uribe pulls it off, sort of, which seemed to amaze him even more than seeing Latimer’s smooth version. He lifted both hands overhead in jubilation and then sprinted out of the room.

Hairston saw a definite advantage to the brief hidden-ball lesson.

“Jason, I think he’s got it,” Hairston said. “I hope he does, because hopefully we might run into the Rays in the World Series, because that means we’re in it. And Evan, watch out.”

Latimer is scheduled to present his magic show on Sept. 25 at Club Nokia.