Bullpen blows one; Phils fall to Braves

ATLANTA - Kyle Kendrick, having produced something that resembled first-grade finger painting in his previous two assignments this season, provided a Rembrandt Tuesday night.

Then Ryan Madson and Jose Contreras handed the Atlanta Braves some spray paint and Kendrick's masterpiece quickly disintegrated into a difficult-to-digest 4-3 loss in 10 innings at Turner Field.

It was the Phillies' third straight loss after an 8-2 start.

Kendrick pitched eight shutout innings and turned the game over to Madson in the bottom of the ninth with a three-run lead. Madson, despite a gnawing one-out walk to Chipper Jones, got within one out of that save before surrendering a two-run home run to a slumping Troy Glaus, who was mildly booed by the home fans before he stepped into the batter's box.

When rookie sensation Jason Heyward followed by blasting a change-up over the right-field wall, Madson had a blown save and the Phillies' dugout had a look of stunned disbelief.

Madson replayed the disastrous ninth by first lamenting the walk to Jones.

"I lost control there," he said.

Madson said location was the problem on both home runs.

"I left a ball right over the middle to Troy Glaus," he said. "The pitch to Heyward needs to be out of the strike zone."

Madson got out of the ninth, but it took Contreras only five pitches in the 10th to end it. Nate McLouth, after two strikes to start the at-bat, launched a floating 2-2 forkball over the right-field wall for the walk-off ending.

"That's baseball," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "That's what happens sometimes when you have guys with that kind of talent. It's unreal - two outs and a three-run lead - but it's all part of it. We did that quite a few times last year, too."

Before three of their final four batters blasted homers, the Braves were a frustrated bunch, thanks to Kendrick's work and some good defense.

With No. 3 starter Joe Blanton beginning his rehab at single-A Lakewood and Nelson Figueroa doing well in the long relief role originally intended for Kendrick, a third straight clunker could have spelled roster doom for the 25-year-old righthander who dazzled in spring training.

Instead, Kendrick delivered eight shutout innings and lowered his ERA by more than 10 runs from 17.47 to 7.24. Manuel had said before the game that Kendrick was getting into too many "have-to" counts, meaning he was behind the hitters and had to throw strikes. With the exception of the fourth inning, he stayed out of those counts against the Braves.

Kendrick's biggest pitch by far was the 2-1 sinking fastball that induced an inning-ending double play from Glaus in the bottom of the fourth.

After retiring Matt Diaz to start the inning, Kendrick got into one of those "have-to" counts Manuel talked about, falling behind Martin Prado 3-1. Prado ripped the "have-to" strike up the middle for a single.

Kendrick fell behind the next hitter 2-1 and Jones scorched the "have-to" strike into right field for a double.

When Kendrick fell behind 3-0 to Brian McCann, Manuel ordered an intentional walk rather than let the Braves' all-star catcher take a hack at one of those "have-to" strikes.

A difficult situation looked even worse when Kendrick fell behind Glaus 2-0.

But after throwing strike one, Kendrick got Glaus to ground into a 5-4-3 double play that ended the inning. Realizing the importance of the moment, the normally stoic Kendrick pumped his fist and smiled as he left the mound.

"That was a big double play," Kendrick said. "I got a little pumped up. Maybe a little too much, but I was happy to get out of that with no runs."

Kendrick was still smiling when he left after the eighth inning, but all those happy faces quickly became glum in the ninth and 10th innings.

"That's just the way the game is," Kendrick said. "That's the first thing I thought about when it happened. This game is crazy. There's nothing you can do about it except go get them tomorrow."