"Terry Collins indicated he was prepared to use Jason Isringhausen in the eighth inning to get the ball to Francisco Rodriguez, although Collins described himself as "leery." In reality, the manager preferred to avoid using Isringhausen, since the 38-year-old reliever had tossed 23 pitches Sunday against the Yankees.

Bobby Parnell made the decision easy. After Parnell tossed a perfect seventh inning, Collins returned him to the mound for the eighth. The result: six up, six down for Parnell, who handed the ball directly to K-Rod.

"He went out there and he was so dominant the first inning, I said, 'Well, I'm going to run him out there while he's hot,'" Collins said. "