YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi -- Lewis Hamilton kicked off the Abu Dhabi title showdown by beating Nico Rosberg in the weekends opening practice session with a margin of over 0.3s.Hamilton comes into the weekend trailing Mercedes teammate Rosberg by 12 points and needs the German to finish off the podium if he wants any chance of a fourth world championship. He kicked off his weekend in fine style, setting a 1:42.869 on the soft tyre -- improving on his previous best on the softer ultra-soft tyre. Rosbergs best was on the ultra-soft tyre but was 0.374s shy of his teammates benchmark.FP1 was far from perfect for the reigning champion, who spun on the exit of Turn 5 after a long stint on ultra-soft tyres, but his position at the top of the timing screen will give him confidence hes continued his form after three consecutive race wins.Rosberg finished second, something he can settle for on Sunday and win the championship, but will be wary of the close proximity of Red Bulls Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, who finished just 0.1s behind with times set on the soft tyre. Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari look a fair way off after the first hour and a half, with the No.5 car 1.1s behind Hamilton. However, it is worth noting that of the three practice sessions, FP1 and FP3 are the least representative as qualifying and the race take place later in the day at sunset.Sergio Perez split the Ferrari drivers to take sixth, albeit on the ultra-soft tyre compared to two soft tyre times. Raikkonen was seventh, half a second behind teammate Vettel. Carlos Sainz finished eighth to round off the drivers within two seconds of the world champions. Felipe Massa, who spun in an identical manner to Hamilton on the exit of Turn 5, finished ninth ahead of Saubers Marcus Ericsson. Alfonso Celis, taking part in his final FP1 of the season, finished 11th, but a full 1.2s off Perez in the other Force India.On a weekend which has seen most teams load up on the soft and ultra-soft tyre, the super-soft, the middle compound in this weekends range, was the least popular of the opening 90 minutes. The only drivers to set their quickest time on it were 12th- and 13th-place drivers Romain Grosjean and Felipe Nasr, though the former spun out at Turn 1 during the session.Esteban Gutierrez finished 14th ahead of Williams Valtteri Bottas, who held firm with the teams usual practice of holding back on Fridays. Renault pair Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen finished 17th and 18th, with just 0.007s covering them. Fernando Alonso could only manage 18th for McLaren on a weekend he and the team expect to lead to a strong result. Manors Pascal Wehrlein separated Alonso and teammate Jenson Button, who only completed 10 laps after what looked like a power issue mid-way through the session.Jordan Kings second FP1 appearance of the season ended in 21st and included a spin on entry to Turn 5, which saw him lose the car mid-way through the chicane. Daniil Kvyats Toro Rosso rounded off the timesheet after suffering an early left-rear puncture, continuing the teams recent run of tyre issues. Wholesale Jordans China . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Cheap Jordan Shoes China . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. http://www.wholesalejordan12.com/discount-jordan-4-wholesale.html .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. Cheap Air Jordan 12 Retro . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Jordan 12 Cheap Real . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. PITTSBURGH -- Ivan Nova has developed a pre-game ritual since coming to the Pittsburgh Pirates from the New York Yankees in a trade on Aug. 1.The right-hander walks up to right fielder Gregory Polanco in the dugout just before the first pitch and asks him to hit a home run.He hit two for me today, Nova said with a smile.Nova took a shutout into the ninth inning and finished with a six-hitter while Polanco hit two home runs to lead the Pirates to a 7-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.Nova (10-6) struck out six, walked one and threw 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes while improving to 3-0 in four starts with the Pirates.It was the fourth complete game of the right-handers seven-year career with the others coming in 2013.He was very efficient with his pitches, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. He threw a lot of really good sinkers against a very good-hitting team with a lot of right-handed hitters and he locked them up with the ball away.His bid for his third career shutout ended when Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve led off the ninth with consecutive doubles.Pittsburgh snapped its four-game losing streak and stopped Houstons four-game winning streak. Both teams entered 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card in their respective leagues.Nova is doing his best to keep the Pirates hopes of a fourth consecutive postseason appearance alive after being traded for the first time in his career.You dont want to get traded, Nova said. This is not what I was looking for. Stuff like that happens, though. Im happy to be here. Its a good group of guys who want to win and Im trying to do the best I can to help them win.After the Pirates scored four runs in the first inning, Polanco hit solo shots in the third and fifth off Joe Musgrove and Tony Sipp to extend the lead to 6-0 and raise his season total to a team-high 19 homers.It was Polancos second two-home run game of his three-year career. The other was July 4 at St. Louis.The right fiielder hit a combined 19 homers in his first two seasons.dddddddddddd.I guess Im getting stronger, Polanco said. My swing is getting better, shorter and quicker. Experience, too. The more swings you take, the better you get every day.The Pirates opened the first inning with six straight hits off Musgrove (1-2). Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen hit consecutive RBI doubles then Polanco and rookie Josh Bell drove in runs with singles.Polanco had three of the Pirates 11 hits while driving in three runs and scoring three times. Joyce and Bell added two hits each.The Astros Marwin Gonzalez had three hits.Musgrove, a rookie making his fourth career start, was rocked for five runs and eight hits in four innings with two strikeouts and no walks. He has allowed a combined 13 runs in 9 1/3 innings while losing his last two starts.Hes learning, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. Thats part of the nature of having young starters. Hes got to learn to battle himself through his first back-to-back games of adversity. He has pitches to do it. He has a ton of competitiveness in him.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: 3B Luis Valbuena will undergo surgery in the next few days to repair a torn tendon in his right hamstring. Out since July 27, Valbuena finishes the season hitting .260 with 13 home runs in 90 games. ... OF Preston Tucker (strained right shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi. ... 3B/OF Yulieski Gurriel (right hamstring tightness) did not start for a second straight game after making his major league debut Sunday but is expected to be in the lineup Wednesday.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Collin McHugh (7-10, 4.99 ERA) starts the finale of the three-game series Wednesday. He is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in his last five starts.Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-8, 3.30) is 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA in his last three starts. ' ' '