Sports: McRae determined to stick with Yan

McRae determined to stick with Yan

By KEVIN KELLY and MARC TOPKIN

ST. PETERSBURG -- Despite boos and a second blown save in eight days, Rays manager Hal McRae's confidence in his closer has not wavered.

Esteban Yan is tied for the major-league lead with seven blown saves this season after he allowed four runs in two innings in a 4-3 loss to the Yankees on Thursday.

"He has the best stuff for the position and has the makeup for the position and he will eventually be what we need him to be," McRae said. "That may take time."

Yan entered in the eighth inning and the Rays ahead 2-0. He allowed one run that inning -- a home run by Alfonso Soriano -- before giving up three more in the ninth after a throwing error by first baseman Aubrey Huff with one out that kept the inning going.

Luis Sojo, hitless in his previous 19 at-bats, hit a two-run double after a run-scoring groundout by Soriano.

"Sometimes you need to pick up your teammates," Yan said.

While only one of Yan's runs was earned, he's allowed nine in his past 7 2/3 innings. He gave up two homers against Baltimore on Aug. 1 for his sixth blown save.

"He should've been in the dugout," McRae said. "That's no excuse for him making a bad pitch, but we all have to learn how to do this thing together. It's going to take some work and it's going to take some time."

BRAZELTON UPDATE: With an Aug. 20 deadline approaching, the Rays again are talking regularly with Bo McKinnis, the adviser to top draft pick Dewon Brazelton, and are believed to be near an agreement.

MISSING McGRIFF: The Rays have one home run in their past 390 at-bats -- Greg Vaughn's on Sunday -- and rank last in the majors with 91 this season.

They've hit two since Fred McGriff went to Chicago on July 27.

"We don't have a lot of guys that are going to produce big power numbers," Brent Abernathy said. "We've got guys who can hit home runs every now and then but we've got a couple guys who have in the past."

WALK ON: McRae would like to see Jason Tyner draw more walks, but doesn't plan to talk to him about it until after the season. Tyner has 10 walks.

"I wouldn't attempt to encourage him to do anything different now because he's doing a fair job swinging the bat and getting on base," McRae said.

ODDS AND ENDS: In his first rehab start with Double-A Orlando, Bryan Rekar pitched three scoreless innings against Mobile on Thursday. He allowed one hit and struck out two. ... The Rays' RBI youth baseball team beat Cincinnati's 10-9 in the RBI World Series senior division championship game. ... The first 7,500 fans ages 14 and younger will receive a Raymond bobblehead doll on Sunday. Gates open at 11:15 a.m. ... Durham outfielder Jose Guillen was placed on the disabled list with inflammation in his left knee.

CHARITY CORNER: Vaughn will present a check worth $10,000 today to the St. Petersburg Boys and Girls Club. The money was raised through Vaughn's "Evening of Jazz" event in May. ... The Rays donated $24,452 to the Gold Shield Foundation, money raised through Law Enforcement Appreciation Day on July 21. ... Rays wives are sponsoring a food drive for Metropolitan Ministries during Sunday's game. Any fan who brings five canned food items will receive a voucher for a free ticket to a future game.