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Pessimistic: "There's NO WAY Smoak stays this hot all year.  He'll come back to earth when the league adjusts to him."
Optimistic: "Imagine how good he's gonna be when he gets the umps in his side, Edgar-fashion. 'Sorry Pitcher X, can't call that a strike because Smoak was yawning as it crossed the plate.'"
Will the league adjust to Smoak?  They've already tried.  Fastballs outside that he was trying to pull last year he started hitting for power the other way.  So they went inside, and he's yanking those down the line for ground-rule doubles.  Now like you said the nibbling's starting and they're hoping he can't hit a changeup.
He can.
Good pitching is about disrupting the hitter's timing, and nothing is getting Smoak off his game at this point.  Yes, he IS hot, but he's also DANGER-ous.  Leave a lazy fastball over the plate and he'll send it 400 feet and trot around the bases.
It kills me that he's not batting 4th to take better advantage of Ichiro and Figgins starting to get the on-base thing going.  When either Ichiro or Chone gets on I keep seeing the #3 and 4 hitters get wiped out.  How many more RBIs does Smoak have per 162 if he's not hitting tape-measure power shots to lead off innings?  In the sorts of close games we'll be having over the course of the season, it matters.
He is our only offensive lynchpin - we've gotta put him behind the on-base guys more consistently.  Bat him 4th.
And we've gotta find some more lynchpins.  Ackley's not ready for that yet, even with his 1.25 batting eye and his .142 isolated on-base figure.
He has 13 walks against 5 Ks in his last 10 games...but is only hitting .167 over that span.  His BABIP is .236, which is something like a hundred points below the minor league average.
He'll get there.  The kid's gonna hit for a far higher average than he has so far.  But I don't throw him to the lions before his luck turns around and he can feel better about his approach.
Since he's not ready to help power the offense, though...who is?  I agree with previous statements from other posters - is this offense REALLY gonna work with one guy doing all the heavy lifting?
This swath of victories came after Justin got back from bereavement.  One of our only losses was to the Rangers when Smoak had a bad game.
I am optimistic that Smoak is a HUGE part of our future, but I am pessimistic that we will be able to do anything significant, even with the pitching starting to come together in a big way, unless we get him some help.
Cust, Bradley, Ryan, Wilson, Saunders and Langerhans are not gonna get it done.
I have to say, though, that it's thrilling to watch 2 ultra-talented kids in Smoak and Pineda come up from the minors and perform BIG for us.
Jack just needs to find a few more pieces.  The trade deadline could be very interesting - we thought we'd be moving Aardsma this year, but could it be League that goes instead to bring us a good return?  Or Bedard?
Draft day is gonna be huge for me.  If Rendon really does come here, maybe I can be a little more patient with the offense.  If we get a pitcher instead, then Jack HAS to go get us a plus bat or two to help Smoak and eventually Ackley out.
They can't do it alone, even if one of them is already proving himself to be a special player and the other keeps showing glimpses of it.
Don't make Smoak pull a Luis Gonzalez in order for us to make anything happen with this team. It's not 2001 anymore - getting a "lucky" spike to 9+ WAR is not gonna happen.
~G