Parnell is the great story here. He seems to have learned that the answer to all of his problems does not lay in breaking the radar gun! Yes throwing a fastball 105 MPH can be an effective out pitch but not is every pitch is thrown 105 MPH!
And by taking something off the fastball it allows him to also take something off the other pitches which means better control and location!
Then if he needs it he can go to the cannon and blow someone away once he has them in a count that is manageable!

The real show for this team starts now!
What they have done is good but it has been done against teams that are not all that good or have some problem they are dealing with at the time we meet them. Atlanta started off slow and we swept them but since then they found thier bats and then raced past us in the standings until this past series where we played the bhottom of the NL Barrel!

The Phillies has suffered for the lack of Howard and Utley and now that Old Expensive Pitching staff may be coming back to bite them. But they have been hot since they faced Boston and Washington taking 3 of 4 from the Cards. They still don’t have thier big bats so we have a good chance to put them away this week.

After the Phillies things get rather tough.
StL, Nats, Yanks and Tampa followed by Cin, Balt and Yanks again!

What happens in that tough stretch is going to determine where we are and how good we really are for the rest of the season!
If this stretch goes badly for us it could mean the season is done for anyone who thinks 7.5 games out in July with more than two teams ahead of you means game over!