What's Jerry Manuel doing?

After spending his season as a reliever, Bobby Parnell started his first game for the Mets. He was allowed to throw 68 pitches. (Why?) In his second start, Jerry Manuel will let Parnell throw up to 85 pitches. (Way too many.) That contradicts what a New York Daily News article reported that Parnell said after his last start:

My arm strength was good, but obviously it's going to take a little while to keep building it up. I think we're just going to take gradual steps and build it up slowly."

It doesn't appear that Manuel intends to gradually let Parnell build up his arm strength. Hopefully, Manuel's plan won't damage Parnell's arm.