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          New York Mets

          Thole explains brain cramp

          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterApr 13, 2012, 11:34 PM ET
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          Josh Thole had no excuse, only embarrassment, for his baserunning blunder in the second inning of Friday’s 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Phillies.

          Josh Thole

          Josh Thole

          #30 C
          New York Mets

          2012 STATS

          • GM6

          • HR0

          • RBI1

          • R1

          • OBP.476

          • AVG.389

          Thole could have coasted into second base on a would-be sacrifice bunt by R.A. Dickey. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins even put up his right hand telling Thole the play was uncontested at second base. But Thole inexplicably decided to head back to first base, where he was doubled up.

          “I even saw the ball on the ground in fair territory,” Thole said about Dickey’s bunt to first base, where the knuckleballer was retired. “The video is incredible. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

          Brain cramp?

          “To say the least, to put it nicely.

          “I was coming into second, and Jimmy put his hands up, like, ‘Come in easy. You can come in easy.’ And I knew the ball was fair. I even looked down. You go watch the video. I checked it. The ball was on the floor. And I just took off running back to first. I’ve got no other explanation.”

          Thole insisted Rollins was not intentionally deceptive -- or deceptive at all.

          “That happens quite often,” Thole said about the shortstop putting up his hand to signal the play is uncontested. “And typically I just slide to slide anyways, just to make sure. It was definitely a lackadaisical play on my part to say the least. Good thing it didn’t affect anything.”

          Terry Collins joked to Thole that the play ought to have been scored a sacrifice bunt with a caught stealing at first. The official scorer, it turns out, did not give Dickey a sacrifice. It was a straight, if unconventional, 3-1-6-4 double play.

          “Well, that’s unfortunate for R.A.,” Thole said. “But I don’t know if he’s going for the batting title.”