Told you so: For all three of you who read this blog, I just want to remind you that I never liked the idea of turning Dustin Ackley into a second baseman. I thought Kyle Seager, a second baseman at North Carolina, was a better fit at second, and Ackley, an outfielder at North Carolina, should be the starting left-fielder. Ackley’s now playing outfield for Tacoma, where he’s also found his hitting stroke. Now that Nick Franklin is holding down second, I suppose it’s OK to keep Seager at third. But with Franklin, Brendan Ryan, and Carlos Triunfel all on the big club and Brad Miller waiting in the wings, the M’s are going to have to figure out what to do with all of those middle infielders. Miller’s hitting .341 with four HRs and 23 RBI since coming up to Tacoma 20 games ago. There’s probably no reason to rush him to the big leagues, but why not? When the July 31 trade deadline rolls around, look for Ryan to wind up back in the National League, and Triunfel, or even Franklin, could be pieces for a potential trade. If I’m the GM, I’d envision Miller at shortstop, Seager or Franklin at second, Ackley in left and a power hitter, someone acquired by trade or free agency, at third base, when Opening Day rolls around in 2014.

Interesting Finals: All but one game has turned into a blowout, but these NBA Finals have been pretty compelling. There’s been a different story every game. Manu Ginobili showed that he still has some game left in his tank on Sunday as he led the Spurs to a victory and 3-2 advantage over LeBron and the Miami Heat. Gonobili, 36, had 24 points and 10 assists. Last time the Heat was in this position, down 3-2 and going back to Miami, they watched the Dallas Mavericks celebrate on their homecourt. Lebron said he’s looking forward to the challenge.

Marvin returning to Jazz for another: Marvin Williams, who is recovering from heel surgery that will keep him out of the start of the next NBA season, has declined an option that would allow him to get out of his contract. So the Bremerton High grad is guaranteed $7.5 million next season. Here’s a blogger’s take on Marvin’s first year with the Jazz.

Hopson to T-Tech: Former Sequim fastpitch star Lea Hopson, a two-time Olympic League MVP, recently signed to play at Texas Tech. Hopson, who helped the Wolves to an unbeaten season and Class 2A state title, was a first-team junior college all-american at the College of Southern Idaho. Her offensive numbers were mighty impressive.

No. 2 and feeling blue: “I just keep feeling heartbreak,” said Phil Mickelson after his sixth second-place finish at the U.S. Open. Did he blow it or did Justin Rose win it?

Willie still hot: Willie Bloomquist is hitting .409 in 14 games for the Diamondbacks after going 2 for 4 on Sunday. The South Kitsap grad hit the ground running after being activated from the disabled list and continues to swing a hot bat for the Diamondbacks, who went 0-3 at San Diego but still cling to a first-place in the tight NL West. Only two games separate the four teams.

Unbeaten streak: The Kitsap Pumas can’t win, and they can’t lose. The Pumas are 0-0-5 in their last five games. The latest tie: 2-2 vs. the Portland Timbers U-23s on Saturday leaves the Pumas (1-2-5, 8 points)  in fifth-place in the Northwest Division, which is led by the Timbers (5-1-2, 17 points). The Pumas and Timbers tied 0-0 two weeks ago at Gordon Field, and they will play again in Portland on Friday, June. 21.

Jackets back home: The Kitsap BlueJackets (4-8) get a day off on Monday, but will be back in action on Tuesday for the first game of a three-game series against the Bend Elks. Kitsap beat the Elks 5-3 on Sunday in Bend, ending a four-game losing streak. Catcher Alex McKeon (.371) leads the offense, but Kitsap is hitting just .234 as a team. Pitching has been decent in the early going as the staff has a 3.72 ERA. Here’s the pitching stats. And hte hitting stats.

Struggling: Todd Linden is in the midst of a 2-for-25 stretch with Fresno, the Giants’ Triple-A club, and is hitting .179 in 27 games. The Central Kitsap grad missed most of the early season with a foot injury after fouling a ball off it and suffering a deep bruise.

Good genes: Taryn Griffey, daughter of Ken Griffey Jr., recently committed to play basketball at Arizona. She’s just now coming back after missing her junior season with a knee injury. She gives her dad credit for helping her through the recovery process.

Willie Bloomquist’s two-run single in the ninth inning gave the Arizona Diamondbacks the lead in a game the D’backs won 5-4 over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. Bloomquist, a Port Orchard native, is hitting .467 since returning from the disabled list.

Do the Seahawks have a problem with Adderall? “It does seem that way,” says Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman in an interview with ESPN The Magazine.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports writes that Tim Tebow landed in the perfect spot after signing with the New England Patriots. Tebow’s never sought the limelight and coach Bill Belichick is the right guy to keep the media hounds away from the oft-criticized quarterback. Belichick, during a press conference on Tuesday, reiterated over and over that the Pats “will do what’s best for the team,” when it comes to Tebow.

There’s a lot of golfers to root for this week at the U.S. Open. Mike Tanner from the relatively new Sports On Earth blog, which features some of the best writers on the planet, mentions a lot of them, including Jordan Spieth, who won the U.S. Junior Amateur at Gold Mountain a couple summers ago.

U.S. Soccer has come a long way since 1976. Joel Petterson of the Seattle Times chronicles just how far in this well-done piece, writing about the state of U.S. men’s soccer the last time the team played in Seattle. The year was 1976, the opponent was Canada and the U.S. coach was Walt Chyzowych. I remember covering the Sounders’ game vs. the New York Cosmos and Pele earlier that year. It was the first event played in the Kingdome.

Still can’t get LeBron James’ epic block of Tiago Splitter’s shot during Game 2 of the NBA Finals out of my head. Adrian Wojnarowski writes about it for Yahoo! Sports.

Another story from the Sports on Earth blog: Minor League baseball hasn’t been the same since “Bull Durham” — the movie classic that celebrates its 25th anniversary on June 15. Thom Loverro writes the story.

In case you missed it, here’s the complete list of the Mariners’ 40 picks in the recent amateur baseball draft. And here’s a list of the 34 players with Washington state ties selected in the draft. Lower Columbia’s Easton Napiontek, a freshman pitcher from Port Angeles, was selected in the 34th round by the Texas Rangers. The 6-foot-8 Napiontek played a lot of shortstop at PA, but was turned into a hard-throwing, full-time closer at LCC. He’s already signed with the Rangers.

The Jackets’ home opener at Gene Lobe Fields vs. the Medford Rogues drew 705 fans. The BlueJackets won 7-0 and play the Rogues again Sunday at 1:05 p.m. and Monday at 11 a.m. (yes, 11 a.m.,. not a misprint; it’s a one-time thing).

The Pumas tied the Vancouver U-23s 2-2 at Gordon Field. I couldn’t find the story online, and there was nothing on the Pumas or PDL website, so I have no details about attendance. The Pumas drew 633 for their home opener the previous Saturday against the Portland Timbers U-23s.

You want to see both local franchises do well. Scheduling games on the same night is probably not a good idea, and I’m not sure if it could be prevented, but I would think they would try to avoid that in the future, especially when one of the teams is playing its home opener. The Pumas, who won a national title in 2011 when playing at Bremerton Memorial Stadium, ran into a similar conflict the previous week when the Destruction Derby was playing to a full house at Thunderbird Stadium.

If you haven’t been to a BlueJackets or Pumas game, give ‘em a shot. It’s inexpensive and family-based entertainment, and it’s local. If you want to sip on a cold one, you can do that too as both teams feature beer gardens.

The Pumas are 1-2-4 and buried in fifth place in the Northwest Division with seven points. Victoria, Portland and Vancouver are tied for first with 13 points. Kitsap’s next two games are against Portland, Saturday, June 15, at home, and Friday, June 21, at Portland. It’s a quirky schedule. As I mentioned, the Pumas just tied the Timbers 0-0 at home on June 1. Here’s a link to the Pumas’ schedule.

The BlueJackets are off to a 2-2 start in the summer college baseball league. Kitsap’s in the Southern Division of the West Coast League, an 11-team circuit (not nine as I erroneously wrote in an earlier story). Bend, Medford, Klamath Falls, Corvallis, Kitsap and Cowlitz comprise the Southern Division. Bellingham, Wenatchee, Walla Walla, Victoria and Kelowna are in the Northern Division.

Here’s a link to the BlueJackets’ schedule.

You can catch both teams in action on the same day on Sunday, July 7. You can stop by and watch the BlueJackets and Wenatchee AppleSox at 1:05 p.m., then take a short walk to Gordon Field to catch a 4 p.m. soccer match between the Pumas and NorthSound SeaWolves. A double dip on a single trip.

The Jackets open a three-game series at Longview against Cowlitz on Wednesday. Kitsap’s home opener is Saturday at 6:35 p.m. against Medford at Gene Lobe Fields at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds and Events Center.

I talked to outfielder Daniel Jewett and manager Ryan Parker over the weekend. Look for the story on Tuesday. Jewett’s a North Kitsap grad who spent a red-shirt season at NCAA Division I Nebraska-Omaha. He had to sit out this season after transferring from D2 Truman State in Missouri. Jewett figures to be a mainstay for the BlueJackets that Parker’s thinking about starting him in the opener because he’s familiar with the hard-throwing right-hander.

Parker, who doubles as Olympic College’s head coach, will be starting his second year as head man with the BlueJackets. He assisted Matt Acker four years previously.

Other locals who will be wearing the BlueJackets’ uniforms:

Daniel Orr, a Kingston grad who is coming off a very solid season for NWAACC champion Everett. Orr, a first baseman, hit .362 with 3 homers and a team-high 50 RBI for the Trojans. He was all-North Division and also made the all-tourney NWAACC team. Everett beat Pierce 4-1 in Friday’s title game.

Vince Sablan from South Kitsap, who just completed his first season at Olympic College. Sablan joined the Jackets for their final road trip a year ago and will play some shortstop and third base.

Pitchers Kyle McKay (Ferndale/Olympic College/Jamestown University), Ryan Taylor (Salt Lake City/Olympic College) and catcher Dustin Dhanani (Blaine/Olympic College) are also on the roster.

Go the BlueJackets site to see the rest of the roster and schedule.

Baumgartner delivers for Ducks

Oregon’s Tyler Baumgartner, who played for the BlueJackets last summer, was 5-for-10 with three RBI and five runs scored in two games Sunday as he helped the Ducks stay alive in NCAA regional play in Eugene. The Ducks play Rice Monday with the winner advancing to the NCAA Super Regional next weekend against North Carolina State.

Baumgartner, a Central Kitsap grad and transfer from Bellevue College,  combined to hit for the cycle in the two games with a home run, double and single against San Francisco in the early game and a triple and a double in the game against Rice. Baumgartner, who DH’d much of the season, played left field in both games.

Also

Five local baseball players were selected to play in the Washington All-State Series this coming weekend in Yakima: Michael Wood and Cody Wolfe from South Kitsap, AJ Milyard and Matt Fisher from North Kitsap and Matt Noll from Bremerton.erall

Poulsbo’s Ryan Villopoto won his fifth straight moto in the outdoor motocross season at Tennessee, but ended up fourth in the second moto after taking a spill early. He’s still got a healthy lead in the overall points chase. Check out the crash that ended his five-moto win streak.

Willie Bloomquist started at shortstop and went 3-for-4  against the Cubs on Saturday in his first game since being activated by the Diamondbacks. The Port Orchard native said the adrenalin was pumping a little more than usual.

The Bremerton City Amaterur golf tournament at Gold Mountain turned out to be quite a dog fight. Olympic College’s Kenyan Fanslow, who was three strokes back with two holes left, rolled in a 25-footer from off the green on No. 18 for a birdie to finish regulation tied with Chris Bae and Matt Hartley. Hartley won on the second hole of sudden-death playoff with a 3-foot birdie. Read my story here.

The Senior Baseball Games, affiliated with the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association, start at 4 p.m. It consists of two 7-inning games.

The Softball Showcase is at 3:30 p.m. It’s one, 9-inning game featuring softball players of all classes.

Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors over 60. Kids 12 and under and active military are free.

FOOTBALL: The Washington Huskies will kick off their 2013 football season against Boise State on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m.at Husky Stadium. It will be the first game at the new-look, modernized stadium and it will be televised by FOX Sports 1, the new network that debuts earlier that month. The Apple Cup will be on Nov. 29 at 12:30 p.m. And the Huskies also know their game times for two of their other games: The Sept. 14 game vs. Illinois at Soldiers Field in Chicago starts at 5 p.m  PST, and the Nov. 15 games at UCLA starts at 6 p.m. The Illinois and UCLA games are Friday night games.

Here’s Washington’s 2013 schedule.

And here’s the school’s press release about the Boise State starting time.

GOLF: The Washington Huskies are not playing their best golf at the NCAA men’s tournament, but they are only four strokes out of eighth-place heading into Thursday’s third and final round of stroke play. The top eight move on to the match-play portion of the championships. Hogan Award winner Chris Williams is tied for 58th (72-70—142). … UNLV’s Carl Jonson, sophomore from Bainbridge, is tied for 128th (73-74—147) and the Rebels are tied for 21st as a team.

BASEBALL: WILLIE BLOOMQUIST is hitting .467 (7-for-15) with eight RBI in four games with the Triple-A Reno Aces. The Port Orchard native played two games, rested, played two more, and then sat out as he tests himself after starting the season on the disabled list with a strained oblique. Expect him to be recalled by the Diamondbacks pretty soon. … The Tacoma Rainiers being an eight-game homestand on Saturday against Sacramento. The Tuesday game starts at 11:30 a.m. and the forecast is for sunshine. It’s a good chance to get a good look at Dustin Ackley, Jesus Montero, Franklin Gutierrez, Brandon Maurer and Lucas Luetge, who all started the season with the Mariners. Ackley was 5-for-6 with a home run, two walks and 3 RBI at Colorado Springs on Thursday. Montero’s hitting .250, Gutierrez .208.

MOTORSPORTS: MY WEEKLY Thursday column for The Sun was about Bremerton native and open-wheel racer Randy DuBois, who had quite a day as a spectator at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

RETIREMENT?: I THOUGHT I RETIRED in January, but the assignments keep coming. But that’s OK. It’s good to be busy. Looking forward to seeing the Kitsap Pumas, who take on the Portland Timbers 23 s in their  home opener at Gordon Field on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Timbers Army travels pretty good, so there should be a good crowd. Hey, and there’s supposed to be a beer garden for those of you who might like to sip on a cool one. … Sunday, I’ll be at Gold Mountain Golf Club for the final round of the City Amateur golf tournament, and between now and then I’ll find some time to talk to manager Ryan Parker and some of his BlueJackets for a preview on the West Coast League baseball club, which opens its season on Wednesday at Cowlitz in Longview. That story is scheduled to run Tuesday, June 4.  The BlueJackets home opener is Saturday, June 8, vs. Medford.

WENT TO SAFECO FIELD on Memorial Day. Great game for the M’s. Aaron Harang throws complete-game shutout, but the Padres hit a lot of balls hard. Still pretty impressive considering how bad he’s been. Starting to really like Kendrys Morales a lot. The switch-hitter is fun to watch at the plate, and he handled himself pretty good in the field at first base, too. Morales is hitting .500 (16-32 with seven doubles and a homer) in his last seven games. Carlos Triunfel’s still waiting for his first hit (he’s o-for-10) since coming up from Triple-A, but the guy oozes talent. Pulling for him, too.  He smoked one ball, absolutely crushed it, but right at the second baseman. Nick Franklin made his MLB debut. Triunfel and Franklin could be the middle infield combo of the future, or one of them could be trade bait. A lot probably depends on Brendan Ryan and Dustin Ackley. Will Ryan continue to hit? Can Ackley get untracked?

“WE HAVE TO GROW UP.” That’s was the message sent by Cam Chancellor and other Seattle Seahawks’ veterans during a recent team meeting. Good call. It would be nice not to read about PEDs and the Seahawks in the same sentence.

BALTIMORE’S JASON HAMMEL goes eight innings in 6-2 win over Washington Nationals. South Kitsap grad is now 7-2  with a 4.59 ERA. He’s bounced back with two strong outings after a couple stinkers.

ANOTHER SK GRAD, Willie Bloomquist, was 2-for-4 with a triple and 3 RBIs for Reno in an 11-10 loss to Tacoma on Monday. Bloomquist is hitting .455 (5-for-11) since starting his injury rehab in the minors. Look for the D’backs to rush him back to the big club, where he’ll probably see most of his time at second base. Arizona’s using Josh Wilson (.204) and Cliff Pennington (.193) at second since Aaron Hill went down with a fractured bone in his hand earlier in the year. Rookie Didi Gregorious is doing a nice job at short, but Willie Ballgame will also fill in there.

SPEAKING OF SOUTH KITSAP, my heart tugs for the Wolves’ baseball team. Nine errors in a championship game. It’s hard to see a team lose like that. Imagine how it feels? It probably doesn’t feel like it now, but the Wolves had a helluva year. They put together a pretty impressive run to reach the 4A title game, and hopefully that’s what they’ll remember, not the 8-5 loss to Skyview.

UNLV GOLFER CARL JONSON, sophomore from Bainbridge, tees it up with the Rebels at the NCAA Championships in Atlanta on Tuesday. So do the Washington Huskies, led by the strong 1-2 punch of Chris Williams and Cheng Tsung-Pan.

MORE GOLF NEWS: A one-day qualifier for the Washington State Men’s Amateur will be held June 5 at Gold Mountain. The state Am is June 18-20 at Chambers Bay in Tacoma. The Bremerton City Am is June 1-2 at Gold Mountain.

COMING THIS WEEK: The Kitsap Athletic Roundtable sponsors the annual Senior Baseball All-Star Games and Softball Showcase at the Fairgrounds. Softball at 3:30 p.m., baseball at 4. Stop by and see some of our area’s best athletes. Softball is one 9-inning game, while they will play two 7-inning baseball games.

He won two more motocross races Saturday in Lakewood, Colo., and is now a perfect 4-for-4.

Maybe this will change your mind.

If so, stop by Aces Ballpark in downtown Reno and say hello to Willie Bloomquist, who will begin his rehab process with the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Triple-A club.

Reno opens a four-game home series against Tacoma on Friday, and Bloomquist, a South Kitsap grad, will be in uniform. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bloomquist’s last minor-league game was with the Rainiers in 2002. He was called up in September, hit .455 and he’s been a big leaguer ever since.

Bloomquist, 35, started the season on the DL with a strained oblique muscle suffered at the end of spring training. He’s coming off a year he which he hit a career-best .302 for the Diamondbacks.

You’ve probably heard by now that the Mariners have sent catcher Jesus Montero to Triple-A Tacoma. Interesting move. Makes you think more moves are coming. Robert Andino, it’s been nice to know you, but isn’t it time to give Carlos Triunfel a long look? And how long do you keep running Dustin Ackley out there? The Rainiers, by the way, close out a homestand Thursday night at 7 o’clock against Nashville, then  hit the road. Next home stand will be June 1-9.

There’s no excuses for Sergio Garcia for his joke about inviting Tiger Woods over to eat some “fried chicken.”

How will Michael Crabtree’s injury impact the 49ers? Read this Grantland.com piece by Bill Barnwell.

Legendary short-track driver Dick Trickle recently took his life. Trickle competed in 303 NASCAR races, and never won one, but he’s considered by many to be one of the greatest drivers of all time. He never reached the Winston Cup level until he was 48. According to a Sports Illustrated article, he won more than 1,200 feature races in his career.

I helped out as a volunteer softball coach at Olympic College this spring, and it turned out to be a really rewarding experience. I’d played fastpitch for years, and had managed teams at times, and I coached youth baseball, but I’d never coached girls. Anyway, just thought this was a cool story about how one of our division rivals, Bellevue, supported another division rival during the championship game in Portland on Monday of this week. Not sure if a male team would have ever shown this kind of support for a rival. Check it out. (go down to the second headline, THE BIGGEST BUZZ OF ALL). Bellevue, by the way, is coached by former Sun Female Athlete of the Year, Leah Francis, a North Mason grad.