Gibbons received banned drugs (SI.com)

Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim of SI.com report in their continuing investigation of professional athletes who are linked to the Signature Pharmacy scandal have uncovered another name: Baltimore’s Jay Gibbons.

According to information obtained by SI, Gibbons received shipments of performance-enhancing steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) from an Orlando-based compound pharmacy raided last spring as part of a multi-agency bust, even after both drugs were on Major League Baseball’s banned substance list.

A source in Florida with knowledge of Signature Pharmacy’s client list alleges that between October 2003 and July 2005, Gibbons received six separate shipments of Genotropin (a brand name for synthetic Human Growth Hormone), two shipments of testosterone and two shipments of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone produced naturally during pregnancy, but taken by anabolic steroid users to stimulate the production of testosterone, which is suppressed as a result of steroid use. The information regarding Gibbons only pertains to receipt and not actual use of the drugs.

Gibbons joins St. Louis’ Rick Ankiel and Toronto’s Troy Glaus as the latest MLB players to be ensnared in the Albany, New York district attorney dragnet.  All three have been alleged to have received illegal PEDs in the last four days.

The scoreboard for the top five teams in the current NCAA football poll…

(9) Virginia Tech 7, (2) LSU 48 — In arguably Saturday’s marquee match-up, LSU’s Keiland Williams ran for 126 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Matt Flynn led LSU to scores on four of its first five possessions as the Tigers cruised to a 48-7 victory over the visiting Hokies.

(3) West Virginia 48, Marshall 23 — Pat White, Steve Slaton and Noel Devine kicked it into gear after intermission, leading West Virginia to six second-half touchdowns in a 48-23 victory over Marshall in the “Friends of Coal Bowl” match.

Troy 31, (4) Florida 59 — Florida’s Tim Tebow as a one man wrecking crew, throwing for three touchdowns and running for two, leading the defending national champions to a 59-31 victory over Troy.

Miami 13, (5) Oklahoma 51 — Oklahoma and quarterback Sam Bradford made a statement in their 51-13 crushing of visiting Miami (Fla.) as Bradford tossed five touchdowns for 205 yards and receiver Malcolm Kelly caught three TDs in the Sooners’ win.

(5) Wisconsin 20, UNLV 13 — The Badgers’ Tyler Donovan scored on a 29-yard boot leg with 1:53 to play and No. 5 Wisconsin held on for a 20-13 victory over UNLV.  Nevada-Las Vegas was a four-touchdown underdog and briefly led midway through the fourth quarter before Donovan’s score.

…and the upset special:

South Florida 26, (17) Auburn 23 (OT) — Jesse Hester Jr. caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Matt Grothe to lift the South Florida Bulls to a 26-23 overtime win over No. 17 Auburn.  The win marks the third consecutive win that South Florida has downed a ranked opponent.

All box scores courtesy of Yahoo! Sports.  Outside sources have contributed information to this post.

The morning after Alex Rodriguez became the first Yankees player to reach 50 homers in a season since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it in 1961…

Houston has lost six of its last seven and scored just nine runs in its last four games, all losses; more A-Rod: he joined Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as the only players in history to hit 50 homers in three different seasons;  the Braves are third in the NL East, 7 1/2 games behind the New York Mets, and 4 1/2 games back of San Diego in the wild-card race and Detroit move ahead of the Mariners in the American League wild-card race.

Twins 7, White Sox 8 – A.J. Pierzynski hit a tying, pinch-hit two-run homer in the seventh and Paul Konerko also homered for the White Sox, who won for just the seventh time in 26 games and downed the visiting Twins, 8-7.

Red Sox 5, O’s 11 –  Baltimore scored seven runs in the third inning off Red Sox star Daisuke Matsuzaka capped by Scott Moore’s grand slam and the Baltimore Orioles breezed to a 11-5 victory.

M’s 6, Tigers 12 – Brandon Inge hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning to help Detroit beat Seattle 12-6 Saturday.  The win for Detroit included Placido Polanco’s three hit and four RBI performance and Timo Perez also had three hits for the Tigers, who have won the first two games of the three-game series.

Yanks 11, Royals 5 — A-Rod homered in consecutive at-bats against rookie Brian Bannister to set a single-season record for a third baseman, helping the New York Yankees overpower the Kansas City Royals 11-3 .

Indians 6, Angels 1 — The Cleveland Indians scored for four consecutive innings, capped off by back-to-back inning of two runs apiece and Travis Hafner’s two-run double in the seventh inning the Tribe’s 6-1 downing of the Angels of Los Angeles and Anaheim.

More after the jump »

News and notes while Troy Glaus doesn’t want to talk about the past…

Strahan likely to play in opener vs. Dallas (ESPN) Lenny Pasquarelli of ESPN.com reports that it appears likely that former holdout Michael Strahan will likely play against the Dallas Cowboys in the Giants’ season opener Sunday.  Not a bad deal: miss most of training camp and get to play right off the bat.  Being a veteran has its privileges.

Cardinals try rolling with the punches (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) In a season filled with injuries, HGH allegations, off-field incidents and death, the St. Louis Cardinals continue to march forward, writes Joe Straus of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Pirates to name Coonelly CEO (FOX Sports) Ken Rosenthal writes that with the firing of GM Dave Littlefield on Friday, the Pittsburgh Pirates will turn to current MLB legal counsel Frank Coonelly as the club’s CEO.

Henin cruises to seventh major, wins U.S. Open (AP/SI.com) Justine Henin overwhelmed No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 and captured her second U.S. Open title.

Franchitti ditching IndyCar, will make NASCAR jump (AP/Y! Sports) Dario Franchitti, a.k.a. Mr. Ashley Judd, was lured by Ganassi Racing to join its team for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Schreiber: For ESPN, what’s next? (Ombudsman ESPN) “The Ombudsman” comes in and carries a big stick and rips “The Worldwide Teaser” over their coverage of Michael Vick.  But where’s the praise for Kelly Naqi? Rock solid reporting should merit a mention in this matter, in our opinion.