Rangers recovering, report no new swine flu cases

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If Texas pitcher Vicente Padilla had been diagnosed with swine flu a few months ago, it might have sent a wave of fear through the majors.

Now? Barely a ripple.

Certainly, there’s concern. Everyone from Rangers players and staff to their opponents are taking extra precautions to make sure the flu doesn’t spread. But with no new positive swine flu tests and most of the afflicted players on the mend, the worldwide furor that hit just a few months ago hasn’t struck baseball.

“A lot has been made of it because of the label that’s been placed on it, but in practice you really wouldn’t treat it any differently than we’ve treated it,” Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine said before Saturday’s game against the Royals. “The most encouraging thing is that the symptoms seem to be dying off and by all indications guys are healing from this as quickly as they do from a normal flu.”

The Rangers had at least a half dozen players afflicted with flulike symptoms this week, forcing manager Ron Washington to mix and match his lineup every time a new player went down. Most of those players have started to regain their energy and are returning to the lineup.

Reliever Eddie Guardado was his usual boisterous self in the clubhouse, which Washington said was a good sign that he’s feeling better, and Kevin Millwood was expected to make his start in Sunday’s series finale against Kansas City. Shortstop Omar Vizquel was back in the lineup Saturday after missing three games and Padilla, scratched from his start on Wednesday, is expected to take his next turn after working out for the second straight day.

“It’s progress,” Washington said. “Undoubtedly, that’s a bug that’s not that easy to get away from. I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it once it enters your system.”

Padilla is believed to be the first athlete in U.S. major pro sports to test positive for swine flu. The San Diego Padres’ Triple-A team also postponed a trip to Utah because of a flu outbreak that has affected seven players, though none of them had been tested for swine flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently estimated up to 40 percent of Americans could get swine flu over the next two years and several hundred thousand could die without a successful vaccine campaign and other measures. So far, it’s struck more of a glancing blow, killing 300 people in the U.S. and sickening about 1 million.

Still, any new case is daunting, particularly when it’s just across the hall.

“Obviously, it makes you a little bit nervous with one of those players being diagnosed with it,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “They’ve quarantined him and hopefully there is no infectious status coming from their clubhouse to our clubhouse or out here on the field. Nobody has talked about it.”

The Rangers are waiting on results from swine flu tests for several other players, though any new positives won’t change their approach to beating this weeklong barrage.

The team held a meeting on Wednesday to go over hygiene precautions and delayed its flight to Kansas City a day to allow afflicted players and personnel an extra day to recover. A dry erase board inside Texas’ clubhouse in Kansas City had “WASH HANDS” written in big red letters and most of the players seemed to be following that suggestion.

“Our focus has been on trying to get the players better and all signs point to that they have been,” Levine said. “We’re a little bit less focused on the results of those tests than we are making sure the players are improving health-wise.”

News that swine flu had been detected in their stadium didn’t really phase the Royals. Maybe they’ll keep their distance from the Rangers players and probably wash their hands a little more, but that’s about it.

“I feel like it was a big story a while ago,” Kansas City’s Mark Teahen said. “It’s not a big concern of mine.”