But in a situation where many young starting pitchers - and, for that matter, entire baseball teams - might implode, Kendrick and his teammates battled.

After allowing three runs on three hits in the top of the first inning, the 24-year-old righthander combined with his always-solid bullpen to hold the Atlanta Braves in check, minimizing the damage and maximizing the potential for the Phillies' batters to wake out of a weeklong slumber and rally for a 5-4 win over one of their chief division rivals.

Afterward, this is how centerfielder Jayson Werth summed up his team:

"On one hand, you don't want to start the game down 3-0," said Werth, who went 3-for-4 and tied a career high with 4 RBI. "But on the other hand, I don't think this team at any point panics or tries to do more than what you are capable of doing up there."

That was the case for the Phillies' regulars.

Werth flied out to left his first at-bat, yet finished the game with three run-producing singles. First baseman Ryan Howard struck out looking against Braves starter Jo-Jo Reyes in his first trip to the plate, yet finished 2-for-4 and had crucial hits in the fourth and fifth innings as the Phillies rallied from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead.

And Kendrick allowed no runs on three hits in his final five innings, improving to 3-2 on the season and dropping his ERA to 4.87.

In fact, for three innings, the Phils' first matchup of the season against the Braves, who boast the National League's top hitting lineup, contained all the ingredients for a third consecutive loss.

But then something changed.

Kendrick started pitching. The lineup started hitting. And Howard continued to show signs of breaking out of the slump that has consumed the first quarter of his season.

After working out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, Kendrick pitched four solid innings, finishing with three runs on six hits in six innings.

As is generally the case with Kendrick, the Braves were able to hit him, but they weren't able to turn those hits into enough runs.

"He gives up some hard-hit ground balls. He throws a good sinker and they'll hit the ball hard on the ground," manager Charlie Manuel said. "A lot of the time a guy has a chance to field the ball . . . To me, that's one of his big assets. He can get some ground balls at some big moments in the game."

That was enough, when combined with solid bullpen performances from J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and Brad Lidge, who earned his 10th save.

With no out in the fourth, Howard sent a fly ball over the head of Atlanta centerfielder Mark Kotsay that moved Chase Utley to third. The double, which extended Howard's hitting streak to a season-high five games, set up a two-run single by Werth that cut the deficit to 3-2.

In the fifth, Howard tied the game with an RBI single that drove in Shane Victorino, then scored the go-ahead run on another single by Werth.

"I used to say this last year: If we can keep the game close, somewhere along the line we can put together a big inning on you," Manuel said. "And I don't think we've seen the best of our offense yet."

Maybe not over the past week, when the Phillies slogged their way to a sub-.500 road trip, hitting just .249 on the seven-game West Coast swing. But last night, the Phillies finished with 13 hits. Every regular had at least one, and Howard, Pat Burrell and Victorino all had two.

And, of course, Werth had three hits and finished with four RBI for the fourth time in his career. He added an insurance run in the seventh with a single that dropped in front of diving leftfielder Gregor Blanco, scoring Burrell.

It proved vital, as Lidge allowed his first earned run of the season, walking Kotsay with one out then allowing an RBI double to Brian McCann with two down that was misplayed by Werth. Lidge walked one more batter before getting Jeff Francoeur to fly out to rightfield.

"It got a little interesting there at the end," Manuel said, "but he made a good pitch and got out of the inning." *

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.