The Toronto Blue Jays kick off a nine-game road trip Friday in Baltimore as they open a weekend series with the Orioles at Camden Yards. Right-hander Dustin McGowan gets the nod for the visiting Blue Jays and will look to rebound from a rough first assignment against the New York Yankees last Friday. In that outing, McGowan was tagged for four runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings of a 7-3 loss. That start was McGowans first in almost three years after spending last season in the bullpen and the previous one recovering from surgery. The rust was evident, as he worked up too much of a sweat in the bullpen prior to the game and tipped his pitches a few times. "Hes better than that and hell get better than that," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. For Baltimore, right-hander Chris Tillman appears to have picked up right where he left off last year when he went 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA and earned his first All-Star nod. Tillman has allowed only one earned run in each of his first two starts and went 8 1/3 innings at Detroit in his last outing. His teammates are starting to look at Tillman as the true ace of the staff. "Hes definitely working his way up to that status," right fielder Nick Markakis said. "Hes learning how to pitch, hes learning how to attack the zone, hes got confidence on the mound. And when you got confidence and talent, it takes you a long way." Orioles third baseman Jonathan Schoop spoiled Masahiro Tanakas first home start for the Yankees with a three-run homer in the second inning on Wednesday as Baltimore went on to earn a 5-4 win and a series victory. The Os broke a 3-3 tie with two runs in the ninth off reliever Shawn Kelley. With an off day Thursday, they are hoping to get shortstop J.J. Hardy back into the lineup after missing five of the last six games with recurring back spasms. The plan was for Hardy to test out his back at the ballpark on Thursday and see how it responds. "Well see how it feels. Hopefully Ill be able to do everything and should be good to go," Hardy said. "I feel good about it." Toronto missed out on a series sweep over Houston on Thursday as it fell, 6-4. R.A. Dickey, who effectively switched spots with McGowan in the rotation, served up a pair of costly home runs after not allowing any in his first two starts. Last year, he gave up the second-most home runs in the majors. Dickey went on to yield five runs in seven innings against the Astros. Baltimore won last years season series with the Blue Jays by a slim 10-9 margin. Puma Baratas España .Y. - Terry and Kim Pegula have no immediate plans to tinker with their new NFL team. Puma Basket Baratas . -- The Grand Rapids Griffins scored three goals in 33 seconds of the second period en route to defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-1 in American Hockey League action on Friday. http://www.pumabaratas.es/ . It was just time for him to make a big play. Nicolas Batum had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Wesley Matthews scored 18 points, and the Trail Blazers overcame poor-shooting nights by two of their best players in a 94-90 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Zapatillas Puma Baratas . - Vince Carter, heading into his 17th NBA season, doesnt consider age a big issue anymore. Zapatillas Puma Baratas España . The 12th-ranked Haas served well throughout the match at the Ibirapuera arena, allowing only one break point to the 152nd-ranked Italian. Both players held serve until the first-set tiebreak, when Haas stepped up his game to easily clinch the set.Twenty-nine years ago yesterday, 39 supporters who had set off for a football match in Brussels, Belgium would not return home to their loved ones. I remember it vividly. A Wednesday evening, home in London watching the TV with huge anticipation for the annual showpiece event of the Euro soccer calendar - the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus. The 1984 Italian Champions team included Paolo Rossi, the striker who singlehandedly slayed the might of Brazil when scoring a hat trick against them in the quarterfinals of the 1982 World Cup. Rossi wasnt even the star player. That was Michel Platini, the current UEFA President. Italys Brazil 2014 manager, Cesare Prandelli was on the bench. The 39 innocent supporters were killed in cold blood as they attempted to flee from the onslaught of hooliganism initiated by so called fans of Liverpool. It occurred on the terrace behind the goal where Juventus supporters were in the majority. A wall which prevented the Juventus supporters from escaping collapsed with devastating consequences an hour before the game had been scheduled to kick off. Thirty-eight died instantly, a 39th victim succumbing in hospital three months later. Thirty-two were Italians, four Belgian and two French nationals, even a supporter from Northern Ireland. Reports at the time stated over 600 fans were treated for injuries they suffered. The victims came from a whole cross section of society. Included a couple of mailmen, a pair of chefs, three doctors, several students and store workers, a car mechanic, a soldier, a school boy, a farmer, a fashion photographer , a construction worker, a taxi driver and a school janitor. The youngest of whom was only 11-years old. The Heysel Tragedy. One of soccers darkest moments. In the aftermath, UEFA deemed it acceptable for the match to go ahead. Their reasoning concluded it was in the public safety to do so. Cancelling the match they believed would have led to further mayhem. For the record, courtesy of a second half Michel Platini penalty, Juventus won its first European title. The subsequent investigation into the Heysel Tragedy brought no comfort to the grieving families. The stadium was ill equipped to deal with such an occasion. In the weeks leading up to the final Juventus and Liverpool complained to UEFA, stating their concerns for the stadium. Crumbling infrastructure, inadequate policing and security were key factors in preventing such a tragedy. All that separated the Liverpool and Juventus supporters on that fateful terrace was a chicken wire. Criminal charges werre made.dddddddddddd Convictions for involuntary manslaughter were bought against 14 Liverpool fans in a court case that took over four-years to bring. They served very little jail time. Civil charges against those resulted in a scant award of $7 million to the victims families. The Belgian Football Union was put in the dock too. The BFUs most senior official given a suspended prison sentence for "Regrettable Negligence." UEFA itself was not immune - their president and another senior official receiving conditional discharges. Two days after the tragedy and under severe pressure from Margaret Thatchers government, the English Football Association announced it was banning its clubs from playing in Europe. Within a week, UEFA announced that with immediate effect they were banning English clubs indefinitely. It would be five years before they would be permitted to enter European competitions. Additionally Liverpool were banned for a further three-years but 12 months later that ban was lifted. In a highly moving pre-match ceremony on the pitch before their April 27th match against Chelsea, Liverpool recognized the 25th Anniversary of Hillsborough. Brendan Rodgers led the tributes. Yesterday the club placed a floral tribute beneath the Heysel Memorial Plaque which adorns the Centenary Stand at Anfield. Juventus marked the anniversary late last month in a ceremony at their memorial site for the victims. Yesterday a poignant statement was posted on the clubs website - Heysel, the Day of Silence. Hillsborough has always remained in the public consciousness. Heysel however has not. Look at UEFAs website today and you wouldnt even know such an inhumane tragedy occurred at their showpiece club event. If anything positive came out of Heysel, it was that it signified the beginning of the end of wide scale rioting and hooliganism that had wrought havoc across the English game in the preceding decade. That is not to suggest that today the so termed "English Disease" has been completely eradicated. As millions of supporters begin gathering in the 12 host cities staging this summers World Cup, they do so against a backdrop which includes construction worker fatalities and anti-World Cup protests similar to those which occurred at last summers Confederations Cup where an estimated 1,000,000 Brazilians took to the streets. Come July 13th when the world gathers around its TV sets for the World Cup Final let us hope during these upcoming weeks the world doesnt lay witness to 1 more death in the `name of football. ' ' '