Port Orchard native Willie Bloomquist, sidelined by a strained oblique muscle on his right side, is probably “at 80 percent,” and might not be ready to be activated until the end of the month, Arizona GM Kevin Towers told the Arizona Republic on Monday.

Bloomquist opened the season on the disabled list after being injured late in spring training. The South Kitsap grad was coming off a season in which he hit a career-high .302. Pressed into the lineup on a regular basis after injuries to other players, Bloomquist  was the  Diamondbacks’ starting shortstop for much of the last two seasons. He missed most of the last two months of the 2012 season with a back injury.

Bloomquist, 35, is in the last year of a two-year $3.8 million contract, and during the offseason he talked about being a little smarter on how he prepares himself going into his 11th full-time MLB season.

The M’s are out of town, but it’s still a good day to play hooky and go watch a ball game.

Tacoma’s just a 30-minute drive away and the Rainiers (20-11) are playing the Reno Aces (10-21) in an 11:30 a.m. getaway game at Cheney Stadium. The Rainiers had a 10-game winning streak snapped Saturday, but snapped back with a 6-5 win on Sunday. Shortstop/second baseman Nick Franklin’s hitting .325. Franklin, 22, might be ready for the majors if the M’s come calling, writes Larry Stone of the Seattle Times. Shortstop/second baseman Carlos Triunfel (he and Franklin alternate at the middle infield spots) is hitting .319. Catcher Mike Zunino, after a hot start, has tailed off to .202. Monday’s pitching matchup: RHP Randall Delgado (0-3, 9.62 ERA) gets the nod for Reno, while Tacoma will counter with RHP Andrew Carraway (3-1, 3.31 ERA). Here’s a link to the Rainiers’ blog, written by announcer Mike Curto. Here’s the Q&A I did with Curto prior to the start of the season.

Links

Mommas, it’s OK to let your boys grow up to be college football coaches. The average salary for major-college football coaches exceeds $1 million, according to this report. The University of Washington’s Steve Sarkisian is making $2.550,000 million in 2013. He has two years left on his contract, which rises to $2.85 million in 2015.

Here’s one person’s list of the top 10 NFL games you should be looking forward to during the 2013 season. And, yes, the Week 2 matchup in San Francisco, when the Niners host the Seattle Seahawks, is one of those must-see games.

Ex-Sonics player and coach Nate McMillan and former WSU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson are reportedly going to get interviews for the vacant Milwaukee Bucks job. McMillan’s also interviewed for the Pistons’ job.

He’s 44-0, but is Floyd Mayweather Jr. the greatest boxer in history? Note even close, writes Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. Mayweather hasn’t fought many elite fighters, writes Iole.

It’s time for the PGA Tour to start administering blood tests to catch golfers who might be trying to gain an unfair advantage. The way The Tour handled the Vijay Singh case was embarrassing, according to Robert Lusatich of MSN.com.

Congrats to Marco Malich, the retired Peninsula High baseball coach, for being voted into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s Hall of Fame.

Malich is a bit of a legend in the Purdy/Gig Harbor area. He was one of those old-school coaches who could get down on the same level with his players, who respected the heck out of him.

A lot of local softball players remember Malich as a member of those talented Heidelberg slowpitch teams out of Tacoma.

Here’s a link that includes short bios on all of the inductees, including Keith Gilbertson Sr., who had a 61-year teaching and coaching career in Snohomish.

The induction ceremony is noon on May 8 at the Renton Pavilion Event Center. Tickets are $20.