The Indians squandered several scoring opportunities as they were defeated by the Orioles 7-4 Saturday night. The Tribe manufactured 12 hits in the ballgame but left 11 runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh. Jeremy Sowers could not follow up his fantastic previous outing. He allowed all seven of the Orioles’ runs and could not get out of the fourth inning. Melvin Mora hit a two-run homer in the third and the O’s tacked on four more in the next inning to knock Sowers out of the game. Like they have done countless time this season, the Indians scored when the game was already out of reach. Aaron Boone, Franklin Guitierrez, and Kelly Shoppach each had an RBI in the eighth. Shoppach, who hit his first major league home run in the third, had three hits and two RBI’s on the night.

Of course, an Indians loss would not be complete without a routine fielding error. Saturday’s came courtesy of, guess who, Jhonny Peralta on a ridiculously easy shopper. On Peralta bobblehead night, he bobbled the ball and proceeded to throw it wildly past first baseman Victor Martinez. Get a new glove or something, man.

Hundreds of thousands of Clevelanders can breathe a collective sigh of relief as LeBron James has announced he will sign the Cavaliers’ five-year, $80 million contract extension. The earliest LeBron can ink the deal is Wednesday, July 12 as part of the collective bargaining agreement. Other members of the 2003 draft class committed days ago to re-signing with their respective teams, leaving many nervous Cavs fans. They can worry no more because LeBron is sticking around for good. Forget the talk about New Jersey, Chicago, New York, L.A, and New York. James will be in a Cavaliers uniform for years to come and is excited about the direction of the team.

“I am very excited and happy to be re-signing with the Cavaliers. Staying in Cleveland … provides me with the unique opportunity to continue to play in front of my family, friends and fans,” James said in a statement released by his publicist. “I look forward to working toward bringing a championship to our great fans and the city of Cleveland.”

We have had several big name players (Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Boozer) bolt and leave us hanging out to dry in the past but I wasn’t too worried about LeBron. He has seemed very satisfied with the city and the team and has repeatedly stated his interest in staying in Cleveland. LeBron has been in the national spotlight the last several days for waiting so long to sign the max deal. Perhaps he thought it was just assumed that he was going to re-sign with the Cavs and didn’t feel the need to come out and declare his intentions. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter anymore. The King’s throne will be safely planted in C-Town until 2012.

Manager Eric Wedge’s postgame comments the other day seemed to fuel the listless Tribe. At least for a night. A day after Wedge went off on his team for its overall sloppy play of late, the Indians came out and acted like they were on a mission. Behind ace C.C Sabathia and Travis Hafner, the Tribe shut out the Baltimore Orioles 9-0 in the first game of their three-game series. Sabathia arguably pitched his best game of season. He went the distance, allowing only three hits and fanning seven. Hafner made major league history Friday night as he became the only player ever to hit five grand slams before the All-Star break. His bases loaded blast in the second inning off Kris Benson was his seventh of his career. Hafner is one the most dangerous power hitters in the game and the fact that he was once again left off the A.L All-Star roster is simply ridiculous.

“It’s unbelievable,” Sabathia said. “He’s probably got better numbers than anyone in the Home Run Derby. It’s a joke. He’s been one of the best hitters in the game the last three years. For him to get snubbed three years in a row and no one to make a fuss about it is a joke.”

It’s games like this that force you to scratch your head. The Tribe gets thumped the previous two games and come back to win in a blowout. It has happened almost on a weekly basis it seems like. Inconsistency has been and probably will continue to be the theme word for the season.