" It was a fast fall for Bobby Parnell , from anointed eighth-inning man in spring training to middle reliever to disabled list to stuck on a rehab assignment that looked like a demotion. So when Parnell returned to the Mets in late May, Dan Warthen 's message was blunt:

"You either get your ass kicked or you don't, but get on the mound and throw the baseball," the pitching coach told the man who might be the Mets' closer in a few weeks.

It stuck. The 26-year-old with the 100-mph fastball was thinking too much. He wasn't running out to the mound with a sneer and saying, 'Here's my cheese; hit it." He was noodling.

"You're always trying to do better, trying to improve yourself," Parnell said Wednesday night, after a blazing eighth inning set up Francisco Rodriguez for the save. "(But) it's too much. You've got to simplify the game and pitch....I was overthinking."

If the Mets trade Rodriguez and Jason Isringhausen - and league sources say they are trying to do so - Parnell could become the closer by August. Rodriguez believes he is ready.

"He can do it, and he knows it," said the man who owns MLB 's single-season saves record (62). "I love that kid. I talk to him a lot, and I love him. He's a guy who comes here every day trying to improve himself to get better and better. He definitely has the tools.""