Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

As I mentioned yesterday, my thumb was busy on the remote control last night. Andre Agassi extended his career with a grueling five set win over eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis. The final score was 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5. That the match even went five sets is a testament to the heart of both players. Baghdatis received treatment for leg cramps -- an absolute killer for a tennis player -- several times during the match, while Agassi needed a 20 minute cortisone shot after his first round match -- just so he would be able to walk onto the court last night, let alone play a three hour and forty-five minute match. With the win, Agassi moves on to face German Benjamin Becker (ranked 112th) in the third round. The Phils, meanwhile, let one get away last night, losing to Washington in 10 innings, 6-5. The bullpen coughed up a 4-2 lead in the ninth, only to see the Phils regain the lead in the top of the 10th and lose in the bottom of the inning. The loss, which dropped the Phils a full game behind San Diego for the wildcard lead, featured a mammoth homerun from Ryan Howard (I know, what else is new?) that broke Mike Schmidt's team record for homeruns in a season -- and there are still 29 games left. Amazing. Despite being only one game out, Swing and a Miss wonders if this game will turn out to be "the only one game" just like last year.