Final score: Red Sox 5, Mariners 0

Aaron Cook is bad. Aaron Cook has never been specifically good, and he isn’t getting any younger. His best season was a 16-win campaign with the Rockies in 2008… when he also led the league in hits allowed. His “similar pitchers” list on Baseball-Reference.com includes such prestigious names as Joe Blanton, Omar Olivares and one Carlos Silva.

Fortunately for Aaron Cook and the disgustingly extensive Red Sox Nation, the Mariners’ offense is also bad on most nights. Coming into the year Mariners fans knew it would be a season of ups and downs, but the depths that these downs have reached are more than concerning. In the past six games, the Mariners have scored a total of five runs. For those of you who like fractions, that’s 5/6 of a run per game. Honestly, the team is lucky to have won two out of the past six with the way they’re hitting.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the way they’re hitting is not at all. Ichiro had an infield hit tonight that could have very easily been called an out. John Jaso had a solid single to raise his batting average to .277. That’s it. All of the rest of the Mariners’ at-bats led to strikeouts, groundouts or flyouts. This would be understandable, and maybe expected, against Justin Verlander. Aaron Cook though?

Hector Noesi proved, yet again, to be inconsistent. Although it is to be expected for a pitcher’s first season to be a bit all over the place, there isn’t a lot of middle ground for Noesi – it seems like he’s either on fire or absolutely terrible. He has made it through at least seven strong in six starts… but has also given up four runs or more in eight. Tonight he modeled himself after a pitching machine, allowing three home runs in a brutal fifth inning and a sixth in the sixth inning. Noesi, of course, took the loss on the night, his tenth of the year. Noesi now leads the majors in losses all by himself. I guess you could say that he’s in first place.

Next game: vs. Red Sox | June 30 | 7:10 pm