What, was Red Bull distributing free samples out west on Monday? Teams started running and couldn’t stop.

The homestanding Rockies, who had stolen nine bases all year, swiped eight against the Padres. Five of those came courtesy of Dexter Fowler alone, who tied a modern record for rookies in a feat never even achieved by Lou Brock. “I told him, ‘Run until they stop you,’ ” teammate Ryan Spilborghs said after the game. “He did. I don’t think they ever stopped him. I think he’s still running if we go look for him right now.”

It wasn’t a great night for Padres catcher Nick Hundley. Not only was he 0-for-8 against the thieves, but he made another throw to second base on an attempted pickoff that smoked Brad Hawpe in the neck, sending him to the hospital.

Meanwhile in Phoenix, the Diamondbacks also got within one of their entire season steals total by nabbing five against the Cubs. The irony here is that two of those were the first of the year by Chris Young. The Arizona center fielder just happens to have the same name as the slow-to-uncoil, 6-foot-11 San Diego pitcher who surrendered all eight of the Rockies thefts.

That brings us to Pablo Sandoval who, about as wide as he is high, probably displaces more air than anyone in the majors when he runs. He’d never even tried to steal a bag until Monday, but he made it. In San Francisco, of course.

Rush to Judgment

The pitcher “figured I’d be throwing in the mid-90s.” The batter assumed his opponent was a fastball-flinging southpaw, not “throwing sinkerballs, side-armed right-handed.” It was just a case of mistaken identity.

Last Wednesday, Darren O’Day was eating lunch at his Florida home, pondering his next move after being released by the Mets when he got a call from his agent telling him to pack his bags for Toronto. The Rangers, who were playing there, had just claimed him and wanted him in uniform the next day. Plans accelerated when the club decided its bullpen was too depleted not to have him available for that night’s game. So within nine hours, O’Day was working his way through customs, feverishly following directives texted by the team’s traveling secretary. The reliever cabbed directly to the ballpark where, he learned, the game was already in the 10th inning and there had not been enough time to stitch his name on a jersey. A shirt off the back of Kason Gabbard — a harder-throwing lefty who’d been demoted to Triple-A — would have to suffice, since odds were against O’Day being needed anyway.

Moments later, however, the call came for the new arrival to get loose; manager Ron Washington was on his fifth pitcher and his bullpen, he said, was “running on fumes.” With first and second occupied and one out in the 11th, the soft-tossing side-winder was summoned, still wearing Gabbard’s shirt. The first batter O’Day faced was Kevin Millar, who promptly smacked his fifth pitch into left-center for the game-winning hit.

O’Day made no excuses for his failure except saying that, as a Gabbard impersonator, “I didn’t have the fastball I was looking for.”

Perhaps the Red Sox got the pitcher they were looking for. Within 24 hours, they’d purchased Gabbard.

HIT AND RUN
Short Hops’ recurring installment of slapdash observation and imprudent opinion:

Poll: Which will happen first...the Indians hit their first triple, Yuniesky Betancourt draws his first walk or Matt Holliday hits his first home run?

While Cleveland struggles to locate third base, the Mets are struggling in every other area but that one. Nine different New Yorkers have tripled in their last nine games.

Four hours after being presented the 2008 NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award, Brad Lidge served up a ninth-inning four-spot to the Padres to blow his first save in 19 months. Kudos to the often-malevolent Phillies fans for giving him a non-sarcastic standing O when he was yanked.

Oakland's .314 slugging percentage is 56 points lower than any other big-league team. The A's have hit a major league-low eight home runs, and only one team owns fewer stolen bases.

The word “unlikely” seems inadequate to depict the fact that the active pitcher with the longest streak of grand slam-free innings (1,360) is Brian Moehler.

Ryan Braun’s 5-for-5, 2-HR game on April 21 was a tad deceiving. His other three hits never left the infield.

The Mets are finding new ways to separate Johan Santana from a Cy Young Award. Last season, the bullpen blew seven of his leads. This year, the club is batting .168 in his starts.

Through April 23, 20 of the 21 active players who had the longest homerless at-bat streaks were pitchers. The list was headed by infielder Albert Callaspo, who ended his drought at 441 on the 24th.

Baseball has a new scouting scale for pitchers. “He’s nasty right now, but he’s not filthy,” is the way Mets manager Jerry Manuel appraises Mike Pelfrey.

Anybody out there know if a batter (prior to yesterday) has ever laid down a sacrifice and hit a grand slam in the same inning? That’s what Jose Molina did.

QUOTABLES

“Well, no Gold Glove this year.” — Manny Ramirez to manager Joe Torre after he dropped a flyball against the Rockies.