Things quickly turned sour, though.

Hamels started to lose his luster in the fifth and sixth (he gave up four runs), as did the Phillies' bats (they went down in order both innings).

Two rallies were quashed in the seventh and eighth before Heath Bell shut the door for good in the ninth to preserve San Diego's 8-7 come-from-behind win Friday at Citizens Bank Park.

"I definitely wanted to win the game because of Harry," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

The Phillies , who left nine on base, had their chances against the Padres' pitching. Plenty of chances.

They stranded runners on second and third in the third inning and then left them loaded in the fourth. In the seventh, Raul Ibanez led off with a single, but Jayson Werth killed that buzz when he grounded into a double play. The eighth brought another opportunity when pinch hitter Greg Dobbs singled and moved to second on Jimmy Rollins' sacrifice bunt.

One out later, Chase Utley singled to left, prompting third base coach Sam Perlozzo to take a chance and wave Dobbs home, hoping he'd tie the game at 8. But left fielder Chase Headley's throw was perfect and Dobbs had no chance.

Even with cleanup hitter Ryan Howard due up, Manuel wanted to see Dobbs on the move.

"He's gotta come, two outs. He's gotta score," Manuel said. "[Headley] charged, made a good throw. The catcher blocked the plate good. But we gotta score there."

Manuel did consider pinch running for Dobbs once he was on second, but decided against it.

"That entered my mind, but Dobbs doesn't run bad," Manuel said. "I thought Dobbs runs good enough to score. He runs pretty good. I was [also] thinking about if I needed somebody to run, I might need another guy or two to run in the next inning."

After a horrific outing last week against the Rockies, Hamels said he felt more like himself Friday, despite gaving up eight hits, three of which were homers, and five runs (all earned) in six innings.

"Obviously I can't have too many of these," Hamels said. "I need to kick it in gear and be the pitcher I'm expected to be."

To get there, the left-hander said he needs to locate his pitches better, and that starts with his release point being just right.

"I really do need to get that timing and release point down," he said. "A lot of it is really releasing [the ball with more] angle and getting down the mound. The further you get down the mound, the later the guy sees the ball. It's the hardest thing to get. Some guys can get it just like that. For me, it's taking a long time this year."

With the way the Phillies (4-5) were slapping the ball around and scoring runs, center fielder Shane Victorino, who was 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, wasn't envisioning the outcome they got.

"When you score that many runs, you definitely think you're going to win," he said. "But they're a scrappy little team with a bunch of guys that want to play. So give the credit to them. They kept battling and putting themselves back in the game."

amanda.housenick@mcall.com

610-820-6187

Padres 8

Phillies 7

Looking ahead: RHP Brett Myers (1-1, 5.54 ERA) faces San Diego RHP Shawn Hill (1-0, 3.60) in a 7:05 p.m. start today at Citizens Bank Park.