Cleveland pitcher spent thousands on HGH (San Francisco Chronicle)

In a dramatic sense of timing, The San Francisco Chronicle’s Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada — authors of Game of Shadows — report that Cleveland Indians pitcher Paul Byrd bought nearly $25,000 worth of human growth hormone and syringes from a Florida anti-aging clinic that was targeted by law enforcement for illegally distributing performance-enhancing drugs.

Byrd is said to have purchased the goods between August 2002 and January 2005, paying with a credit card (!) and having some shipments sent to the Atlanta Braves’ spring training facility (!!) when he was a member of the Braves.

Tip: if you’re going to mess around and procure illegal substances, say 1,000 vials for nearly $25,000 for either its healing properties or as a cocktail in concert with steroids, don’t leave evidence or send it to your team’s training complex, umkay?

***UPDATED at 12:01 PM ET***

In the interest of fairness — since we took a swipe at him for being a moron — Ken Rosenthal writes that Byrd never hid the fact he used HGH and even mentions it in an upcoming book,  “The Free Byrd Project.”

The morning after J.D. Drew turns the “Boooooooooos” into “Dreeeeeeeeeeeeews”….

Indians 2, Red Sox 12

To quote the great Jack Buck: “…and we’ll see you, tommorrow night!”

The Boston Red Sox hammered the suddenly struggling Cleveland Indians 12-2 at Fenway Park to force a seventh — and deciding — game on Sunday.

More after the jump »

News and notes while ‘ol friend Jonathan Lee Riches sues someone else…

Max McGee dies in fall (AP/ESPN) The legendary wide receiver who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history, died in a fall at his Minneapolis-area home.  He was 75.

Miami’s Green placed on IR (FOX Sports) The Miami Dolphins have placed quarterback Trent Green on the injured reserve list, ending his 2007 season.

Torre declines broadcasting offer (SI.com) Richard Deitsch of SI.com writes that former NY Yankees manager Joe Torre turned down an offer from FOX Sports to handle analyst duties during the World Series.

Younger Elway commits to Arizona State (AP/USA Today) Via a report in the Rocky Mountain News, the son of Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, Jack, has verbally committed to Arizona State to play football.

(5) LSU 30, (18) Auburn 24 — With a second to spare, Demetrius Byrd hauled in Matt Flynn’s 22-yard fade to the back of the end zone, lifting fifth-ranked LSU to a 30-24 victory over No. 18 Auburn