CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – If you wanted an indication of just how bad things got for the Indians in their loss to the Red Sox Sunday – consider the following:

1. Carlos Santana played a few innings in left field for the first time in his MLB career.
2. Jon Lester at one point struck out five of six Indians batters (K’d 12 in the game).
3. Josh Tomlin saw his ERA get near 6.50, as he allowed 7 runs in 1.1 innings.
4. The Red Sox scored 8 runs in a fifth inning that saw them bat for 27 minutes.
5. Corey Kluber went 3.1 innings, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits. His ERA is now 8.56.
6. The Sox had such a big lead, they let a pitcher (Clayton Mortensen) hit in the 9th inning.

Other than that, it was a beautiful Sunday at Progressive Field, as fans watched the Indians suffer a complete utter beat down by the Sox, losing 14-1.

The loss puts them at 53-62 on the season, and with a West coast trip looming, the 2012 season is inches away from being totally written off.

The frustrating thing to watch and consider is that the questions around the team 115 games into 2012 are about the same ones people asked all offseason.

Where’s the power in this teams lineup? The four batters that started the game in spots six through nine for the Indians had a combined 6 homers and 38 RBI.

Can anyone step up in the rotation? The team was hopeful that Kluber would be able to make a successful jump from AAA Columbus (where he was 11-7 with a 3.59 ERA) to the big leagues, but it’s been anything but to this point.

In his three starts with the Indians, he’s allowed 13 earned runs on 22 hits in 13.2 innings with three homers. Sunday the Sox were simply teeing off against him when he was mercifully pulled for Tomlin.

Speaking of Tomlin, there’s another question worth asking – what do the Indians do with him? Manny Acta has already said it would take an emergency for him to start again in 2012, leaving him to come out of the pen.

This season he’s allowed 73 earned runs in 103.1 innings with 126 hits. The Indians will have to decide what he is to them – a starter or reliever, and if he’s worth to keep around for 2013, this after making $494,500 in 2012.

Sunday the Sox took advantage of a poor Kluber and Tomlin, putting the game away with a three-run first, a two-run second, and then after a run in the fourth they slammed their way to eight in the fifth.

The big blow against Kluber was a two-out double by Carl Crawford with the score 3-1 that made it a 5-1 game. This after Adrian Gonzalez put the Sox up 3-1 with a two-run homer in the first inning.

14 Red Sox batters came up in the 5th, with Tomlin allowing five hits, two walks, and seven runs before he was pulled for Frank Herrmann.

By the time it was said and done, Boston had tied a season-high in runs for an inning with 8, and were able to put it on cruise control for Lester up 14-1.

Lester mowed the Indians batters down, striking out 12 over six innings allowing a run on three hits. He was 5-10 with an ERA of 5.36 entering Sunday’s game.

Now the Indians will head out west, where on Monday they will start the first of a 9-game in 10-day road trip that will see them go to Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle.

Monday at 10:05pm vs the Angels, Justin Masterson will go for the Indians against C.J. Wilson for the Halos.

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