9 members of the NY Yankees have the flu

[thebes]

I haven't found an article yet that suggests the flu outbreak (at the end of June) just might be the SWINE flu.....


Ailing Jeter, Damon not in starting lineup

BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com
9:33 PM EDT, June 27, 2009

Looking drained and pale, Derek Jeter insisted he felt good enough to play. But Joe Girardi felt otherwise.

For the second straight night, Jeter was held out of the lineup as he battled the flu bug that has infected, by Girardi's count, nine members of the Yankees. Girardi's count includes players, coaches and support staff. Johnny Damon also was held out last night because of the flu.

Jeter, speaking about 1? hours before the game, said he felt better than he did the day before, when his hacking cough reverberated throughout the clubhouse. "That's on him [Girardi], man," said Jeter, whose reputation for never wanting a day off is well documented. "I told him I could play. That's all his decision."

Jeter didn't appear to have the cough he did Friday on his 35th birthday - at least while speaking to reporters - but Girardi, after talking with team medical personnel, decided to give him another night's rest.

"I know he really wants to play today and he's not happy about being out of the lineup," Girardi said. "But it was recommended when I talked to that we give him another day. He was really, really sick last night."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spybook2812927556jun27,0,2561741.story

-------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/06/new_york_yankees_pitcher_aj_bu_3.html

No one is safe from the flu bug spreading through the Yankees clubhouse. Derek Jeter missed his second straight game with it and Johnny Damon sat out too.

"You can't really come in and put a lineup up because we don't know how they're going to be," Girardi said.

Girardi said after the game Saturday that Phil Hughes also started feeling sick. And Mark Teixeira said he wasn't feeling well either.

"Can't you guys tell?" he said. "I don't feel great. We're all battling right now."

------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/sports/baseball/28mets.html?hpw

As the Mets contend with, among others, hamstring, elbow and knee problems, a more conventional sickness is afflicting the Yankees. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, weakened by the flu, did not start Saturday night, as recommended by the team?s medical staff.

As Jeter, who did not play Friday, conducted a brief pregame interview, he stood about 20 feet away from reporters. He said his fever had subsided, but a headache and cough persisted. Still, Jeter, who detests being out of the lineup, told his manager, Joe Girardi, that he was not thrilled about sitting.

?That?s on him, man,? said Jeter, referring to Girardi. ?I told him I could play. That?s all his decision.?

[the doctor]

Re: 9 members of the NY Yankees have the flu

I haven't found an article yet that suggests the flu outbreak (at the end of June) just might be the SWINE flu.....


Ailing Jeter, Damon not in starting lineup

BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com
9:33 PM EDT, June 27, 2009

Looking drained and pale, Derek Jeter insisted he felt good enough to play. But Joe Girardi felt otherwise.

For the second straight night, Jeter was held out of the lineup as he battled the flu bug that has infected, by Girardi's count, nine members of the Yankees. Girardi's count includes players, coaches and support staff. Johnny Damon also was held out last night because of the flu.

Jeter, speaking about 1? hours before the game, said he felt better than he did the day before, when his hacking cough reverberated throughout the clubhouse. "That's on him [Girardi], man," said Jeter, whose reputation for never wanting a day off is well documented. "I told him I could play. That's all his decision."

Jeter didn't appear to have the cough he did Friday on his 35th birthday - at least while speaking to reporters - but Girardi, after talking with team medical personnel, decided to give him another night's rest.

"I know he really wants to play today and he's not happy about being out of the lineup," Girardi said. "But it was recommended when I talked to that we give him another day. He was really, really sick last night."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spybook2812927556jun27,0,2561741.story

-------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/06/new_york_yankees_pitcher_aj_bu_3.html

No one is safe from the flu bug spreading through the Yankees clubhouse. Derek Jeter missed his second straight game with it and Johnny Damon sat out too.

"You can't really come in and put a lineup up because we don't know how they're going to be," Girardi said.

Girardi said after the game Saturday that Phil Hughes also started feeling sick. And Mark Teixeira said he wasn't feeling well either.

"Can't you guys tell?" he said. "I don't feel great. We're all battling right now."

------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/sports/baseball/28mets.html?hpw

As the Mets contend with, among others, hamstring, elbow and knee problems, a more conventional sickness is afflicting the Yankees. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, weakened by the flu, did not start Saturday night, as recommended by the team?s medical staff.

As Jeter, who did not play Friday, conducted a brief pregame interview, he stood about 20 feet away from reporters. He said his fever had subsided, but a headache and cough persisted. Still, Jeter, who detests being out of the lineup, told his manager, Joe Girardi, that he was not thrilled about sitting.

?That?s on him, man,? said Jeter, referring to Girardi. ?I told him I could play. That?s all his decision.?

The fact that these strapping American athletic heroes are unable to play due to being infected with the novel flu strain is an important development. Maybe their illness will become a wake up call for the media; one that will help them see that the ongoing pandemic is a serious problem that deserves more attention than it is currently receiving.

GW

[thebes]

Re: 9 members of the NY Yankees have the flu

The fact that these strapping American athletic heroes are unable to play due to being infected with the novel flu strain is an important development. Maybe their illness will become a wake up call for the media; one that will help them see that the ongoing pandemic is a serious problem that deserves more attention than it is currently receiving.

GW

Yes, that might happen if only one of them admitted that they actually had the SWINE flu and stop talking in euphemisms.

From the Sporting News:

A flu bug -- not Swine Flu, just to clarify -- is sidelining several players around the league on Saturday including Yankees SS Derek Jeter, Yankees OF Johnny Damon and Texas C Taylor Teagarden.

Jeter will miss his second-straight game Saturday. Ramiro Pena will play in Jeter's spot.

In the Yankees outfield, Brett Gardner will start in center field; Nick Swisher will start in right field; and Melky Cabrera will start in left field.

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/FantasySourceFastball/entry/view/26027/injury_roundup_flu_bug_knocking_out_players

---------------------------------------------------------------

At least the NY Post tried to ask:

FLU SCARE SWEEPS THROUGH CLUBHOUSE

The flu bug that is sprinting through the Yankees' clubhouse took down Johnny Damon yesterday and kept Derek Jeter out of the starting lineup for the second straight game last night.

And it didn't stop there.

Mark Teixeira said, with a nasal voice, he didn't feel good after last night's 5-0 Subway Series victory over the Mets. Chien-Ming Wang, tonight's scheduled starter, admitted to having a stuffy nose and scratchy throat. Manager Joe Girardi said Phil Hughes was showing symptoms.

According to Girardi, Damon was the ninth player, coach or staff member to get leveled by the germ.

"Flu bug," Girardi said when asked why Ramiro Pena was at shortstop and Melky Cabrera in left for the second of three Subway Series games at Citi Field. "Jetes is still sick. I know he really wanted to play and he is not happy about being out of the lineup. It was recommended by our doctors to give him another day. He was really, really sick [Friday] night."

Messages left for general manager Brian Cashman to find out if any of the affected people had been tested for swine flu weren't immediately returned.

Jeter didn't agree with Girardi's decision not to play him.

"I am sick, so don't get too close," Jeter told a small group of reporters before the game. "That's on [Girardi]. I told him I could play. I am good to go. It's just a cough and a headache."

As for Damon, he reported to work and told the medical staff that he hadn't slept.

"I got the Jeter," Damon said after the game. "It's my head, throat. I have been coughing, [have] body aches and I am freezing."

Bench coach Tony Pena, Hideki Matsui and Cabrera were sick in Atlanta, and Jeter, Damon, Teixeira and Wang were stricken in Queens. Video coordinator Anthony Flynn was battling the bug last night. Matsui said he saw a doctor for the first time Friday, but wasn't administered a blood test.

"It went around. That's what happens when you are in a clubhouse and on airplanes," Girardi said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06282009/sports/yankees/flu_scare_sweeps_through_clubhouse_176515.htm

[Shiloh]

Re: 9 members of the NY Yankees have the flu

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/06/...ees-clubhouse/


Flu Sweeps Through New York Yankees Clubhouse
By Sarah Rubenstein

The Yanks? Johnny Damon, right, missed some playing time because of the flu. Melky Cabrera, left, recently had symptoms as well.

The Health Blog sported our Johnny Damon T-shirt to Citi Field on Saturday night to watch the Yankees play the Mets. But we were disappointed to find out that Damon wasn?t in the Yankees? lineup, nor was Derek Jeter. Both had the flu.

The illness has been making its way through the Yankees? clubhouse over the past several days. It also kept Jeter out of the lineup on Friday, his 35th birthday, as the New York Daily News noted. Other players who?ve had symptoms recently include Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes and Chien-Ming Wang, the New York Post reported.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said the players haven?t been tested for the new strain of the flu, known as H1N1 or swine flu, that has been traveling the globe, the Post said.

We put in a call to Brian Currie, an infectious disease specialist and medical director for research at Montefiore Medical Center in the Yanks? home borough of the Bronx. Currie, who isn?t involved with the Yankees? care, told us the ?overwhelming likelihood? is that swine flu is what they have, assuming they picked up the illness in New York. That?s because seasonal flu has almost completely stopped circulating in New York City, he says.

Either way, once a virus makes it into a clubhouse, it spreads easily. ?They travel either by bus or plane, or in restricted areas,? Currie points out. ?They?re in team meetings. There?s ample opportunity for spread? of the illness.

The Mets have had their share of illness this month, including a bug that afflicted the team?s general manager, Omar Minaya. But as the Post reported, Minaya said he was tested and did not have swine flu.

Currie, a Mets fan, tells us he watched all three games in the Subway Series this weekend. The flu ?didn?t help any,? he jokes. The Yankees swept the Mets.