A GRIP ON SPORTS • The end is near for the Mariners. No, we don't mean the end of the season or of their pursuit of a postseason berth. We're talking the end of Jack Zduriencik Era. The M's general manager has lost the middle and we all know what that means. Read on.

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• In anything that demands an opinion, whether it be politics or the opposite sex or sports, there are people who reside on both ends of the spectrum. The adamant pros or cons if you will. But the great majority of us live in the middle. Neither too pro nor too con. And as any veteran politician can tell you, it's those folks in the middle who decide your future. The same is true in sports, maybe even more so. It's important for key figures in a professional organization, like Zduriencik, to keep the middle of the fanbase in his corner. How do you do that? Win, of course. But lacking that, court the opinion makers and keep them from abandoning your agenda. Not just any opinion makers, either. Like their audiences, there are opinion makers who live on the edges, either rabidly pro or con. They rarely matter. People know where they come from and discount their opinions. It's the ones who reside in the middle, the level-headed thinkers among us who always have the most influence. They come to be trusted. They've earned it. As long as they stay in the middle, Zduriencik has been golden. One such opinion maker for Seattle baseball fans is Larry Stone, the former baseball writer turned sports columnist. He has always looked at every issue from mulitiple angles and his opinion can be trusted to be one built on a solid foundation. He's not a guy who shoots from the hip, so to speak. So today's column in the Times, in which he quietly, but thoroughly, crucifies the Zduriencik Era in Marinerland, is a turning point. It marks the end of the middle's support for Zduriencik as general manager. It's not just the negative Nancys out to get Zduriencik anymore. If Stone has lost faith in what Zduriencik is doing, then there is little hope the GM can survive. Only a major turnaround on the field can save the man who put this team together. That's the only way to stop the pressure that will build and build each day from now on. A green light to criticize, to dissect, to demand a change, had been clicked on. The middle has moved. And with it, the end of an era is at hand.

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• Indians: Spokane rallied to tie the game at 3 in the top of the ninth, only to see Boise score in the bottom of the inning and take a 4-3 victory.

• Shock: AFL-leading San Jose needed overtime to overcome Portland, a team Spokane is competing against for a playoff spot.

• Shadow: If the Shadow win today at Bellingham, they win a second-consecutive EPLWA title. They put themselves in that position with a 4-1 victory at Everett last night, their seventh consecutive win.

• Golf: Derek Barron seems to love playing Indian Canyon these days. A course record the other day followed up by a 62 Saturday and the second-round lead in the Rosauers Open. Jim Meehan has the story.

• Preps: Ferris High grad Cody Sorenson has been nominated for a national award for his good works as an Idaho State football player. That's part of our local notebook for this Sunday.

• Seahawks: Another question as the Hawks get ready for training camp. This one is on the center of the offensive line.

• Mariners: It's funny. On the day the center seems to shift, the M's had one of their better games. But almost let it slip away when one of Zduriencik's key disappointments, catcher Mike Zunino, can't make a defensive play in the ninth inning. But Carson Smith was still able to nail down a 4-3 victory in New York, made possible by Robinson Cano's two-homer day. ... Charlie Furbush, the guy Zduriencik traded Doug Fister for, had a setback in his rehabilitation and will be out a while longer. ... You want power rankings? We have them.

• Sounders: Seattle slide continued with a disheartening 1-0 loss to a poor Colorado Rapids team. And the worst part about it? The key to the franchise, Clint Dempsey, scored a hat trick in the U.S.' 6-0 Gold Cup quarterfinal win over Cuba. The loss was the Sounders' fifth in six matches since Dempsey was suspended and Obafemi Martins was injured. They are in fifth place in the MLS' Western Conference. ... The team and the coaching staff are searching for answers. ... Dempsey and Chad Marshall will represent Seattle on the MLS all-star team. ... Vancouver scored late and earned a 1-1 tie with the Timbers. ... Real Salt Lake got a critical three points with a 2-0 home win over Houston.

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• We're watching the British Open as we write, which is a good thing. Only problem is, today was supposed to be the final round. It isn't. Oh well. More golf  – and more golf stories – tomorrow morning. Until later ...