Afternoon Links, 5/21

It’s been a rough few days for the Mariners, as their once-promising rise to possibly getting above .500 has tailspinned into a hapless 20-25. Is there hope for the M’s? I scoured to the blogosphere to try and find some.

• Lookout NW’s Jon Shields found some in Justin Smoak’s huge tenth inning dinger yesterday. Or did he? I think he did. Well, read the article and decide for yourself.
• The same blog’s Scott Weber pointed out something that Anthony Davis immediately alerted me to after Jesus Montero didn’t stay on home plate in the final play of Saturday’s loss: he used the wrong foot. I’m frankly done with Montero as a catcher, since he does screw up so much and cannot throw out a base runner to save his life.
• Geoff Baker’s latest post is all about trying to find optimism in the difficult series. He discounts the losses since the Indians are one of the best teams in baseball right now.
• Kelly Shoppach loved his time in Cleveland, and that’s probably why he decided to join up with his old manager Eric Wedge.
• MLB’s Anthony Castrovince says that the Mariners have reasons to stay optimistic even after the series. He says that the Mariners are close to contending, but aren’t there yet as the series showed.
• Jeff Sullivan focused on “moments of worth” in Monday’s loss. He enjoyed Endy Chavez’s and Justin Smoak’s late homers.