NewsYankees' flu bug extends to Damon
Spark plug joins Jeter on bench; Teixeira not fully healthy
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
06/27/09 6:25 PM ET
NEW YORK -- The list of those checking into the Yankees' clubhouse with a flu bug grew by one on Saturday, as Johnny Damon joined Derek Jeter in being absent from the starting lineup against the Mets.Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Damon began to feel ill with a fever after Yankees' 9-1 victory over the Mets on Friday. Jeter was feeling somewhat better after a coughing fit of his own, and Girardi said that both players were available to pinch-hit on Saturday.
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"I know [Jeter] really wants to play today, and he's not happy about being out of the lineup," Girardi said. "It was recommended when I talked to our doctors that I give him another day. He was really, really sick last night, and Johnny was up all night coughing. He's got the start of it."
Beyond Damon and Jeter, Girardi said that nine members of the Yankees' traveling party had been bitten by the flu bug, including the support staff and coaches. Of them, Jeter has showed the worst of it.
"It kind of went around," Girardi said. "That's what happens when you're in clubhouses and on planes together."
That workload has kept team physician Chris Ahmad busy, with his list of patients also including Robinson Cano and Hideki Matsui.
"It's bad -- look around at a bunch of guys in here," Joba Chamberlain said. "And a few of the guys are feeling worse today."
Chamberlain knocked on the wood of his locker, saying that he would not count himself among the nine Yankees personnel who were feeling the flu's effects. But Mark Teixeira -- batting third in the Yankees' lineup on Saturday -- admitted that he is not exactly 100 percent.
"I don't feel well at all," Teixeira said. "Personally, it first hit me on Tuesday in Atlanta. But you've got to fight through it and do whatever the doctors tell us to."
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
