PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Padre Brain Trust Quick to Protest Scioscia’s Use of Mask to Trap Ball

Like many good, suspenseful moments, this one happened late at night, when trouble often lurks on the streets and newspapers are nearing deadline.

Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia illegally used his mask, and the Padres caught him.

It was one of the more unusual plays of the season, and it happened in the eighth inning on Friday night. The Padres and Dodgers were tied, 3-3, and the Padres had Fred McGriff on third with one out.

A pitch from Jay Howell gently rolled away from the plate, and Scioscia trapped it with his mask. Rule 7.05 (d) states that players may not intentionally use equipment other than their gloves to catch the baseball.

Padre Manager Greg Riddoch and base coaches Bruce Kimm and Rob Picciolo quickly brought it to the attention of home plate umpire Jerry Layne and, after several lengthy discussions that produced a 10-minute delay, McGriff was sent home by Layne with what turned out to be the winning run.

Kimm was the first to notice, but the Padre bench quickly reacted.

“I knew it right away,” Kimm said. “Everyone on our bench caught it, too. I was just the closest to the plate.”

Funny thing was, even though he is a former catcher, Kimm said he didn’t realize until a few years ago that it was against the rules to use a mask to trap the ball.

“The only time I remember something like that was when Mike Heath did it in Detroit,” Kimm said. “It was in the papers. The ball rolled out in front of him and he reached out and trapped it with his mask.

“(Former Angel Manager) Gene Mauch jumped on it instantly. From that point on, you don’t forget it.”

The intriguing thing was, after Riddoch had argued for a few moments, the four umpires huddled and then apparently rejected his plea. But Riddoch continued to argue and, after a second huddle, the umpires agreed with him.

“After the first huddle, they said they didn’t think Scioscia influenced the play by stopping the ball,” Riddoch said. “I said that if that is the case, I’ll protest the game. The rule says you can’t use a piece of equipment to stop the ball. They talked about it a second time and changed their ruling because they knew that was the correct interpretation of the ruling.”

The Dodgers initially protested the game but later Friday withdrew the protest.

“They made the right call,” Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda said. “I’ve been a player in winter ball, I’ve played summer ball, minor league ball, I’ve managed winter ball, I’ve managed minor league ball, I’ve managed major league ball, coached in the big league, and I have never, ever seen that play.”

All my years in baseball and I’ve never seen a play like that.”

Scioscia was upset with the umpire’s call.

“I felt it was a poor interpretation of the play, because I didn’t get an advantage,” Scioscia said.

The Cleveland Indians, already stockpiling highly productive ex-Padres such as catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. and second baseman Carlos Baerga, are now boasting another.

He is a left-handed pitcher from the not-so-distant past named Derek Lilliquist, and he gets the award as the latest Ex-Padre of the Week.

Lilliquist, whom the Indians claimed off waivers from the Padres Nov. 20, earned his third save of the week Saturday when he pitched a perfect inning against the Detroit Tigers.

Previously, he had saved games against Milwaukee on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For the season, Lilliquist is 4-2 with four saves and a 1.59 ERA. Going into Saturday’s game, he was holding opponents to a .154 batting average.

Pitcher Larry Andersen had a slight hamstring strain, according to Riddoch, and was not available Saturday night. . . . Pitching matchups for the Padre-San Francisco series this week in San Diego: The Padres’ Frank Seminara (6-3) vs. Trevor Wilson (6-11) Monday at 7:05 p.m.; Craig Lefferts (12-6) vs. John Burkett (7-6) Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.; and Bruce Hurst (11-6) vs. Francisco Oliveras (0-0) Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.