BASEBALL: DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Protest Dropped on Mask Play

After further review, the Dodgers dropped their protest of Friday night’s game, lost in the eighth inning when Fred McGriff of the Padres, positioned at third base, was awarded home because catcher Mike Scioscia illegally retrieved a pitch in the dirt with his mask.

“It was just a stupid play on my part,” Scioscia said after the game. “But either make the call or don’t.”

Scioscia was upset because home plate umpire Jerry Layne did not initially make the call, and that the matter took nearly 15 minutes to resolve.

“He (Layne) said it was not an infraction,” Scioscia said. “They (the other umpires) talked him into it.”

Scioscia’s error, though, clearly was a violation of baseball rule 7.05 (d).

“It was absolutely the right call,” Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Scioscia was involved in another bizarre play in the first inning of Friday’s game, leading to a run. Tony Gwynn, who was on first with no one out, took off for second on a 3-2 pitch. Scioscia, thinking the pitch was strike three, threw wildly to second, allowing Gwynn to take third.

Scioscia said he never heard Layne call the pitch ball four. Scioscia said the batter, Gary Sheffield, who had walked, brushed his throwing arm while Sheffield was crossing the plate on his way to first.

Gywnn later scored from third on a sacrifice fly.

It took rookie second baseman Eric Young two games to discover there are good and bad days in baseball. In his major league debut Thursday, Young went two for four at the plate with a stolen base and an RBI.

Friday night he committed two errors on the same play and went hitless in four at-bats.

“I know it’s going to happen, but I hope I don’t have many more bad games,” he said before Saturday’s game.

Is the mental adjustment going to be the toughest?

“I don’t know,” Young said. “I’ve only been here two days. You have to stay on an even keel no matter what. You’re going to have ups and downs.”

Young said he was comforted by several teammates after his tough night Friday.

“Each guy came by and said, ‘Keep your head up,’ ” Young said. “So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Brett Butler extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a first-inning single. Butler batted .442 in July (24 for 95) with three doubles, two triples, and 12 RBIs. Butler also had an on-base percentage of .547. . . . Apparently, bad fielding is contagious. Friday night, the Dodgers committed five errors against the Padres. The same night, the team’s double-A affiliate in San Antonio committed five errors in a 6-5 victory.