Angels Still Concerned About Trip

Several Angel players said they remain concerned about traveling to Toronto next week despite the efforts of team management and Major League Baseball on Thursday to allay fears about contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the Canadian city.

“It’s still in my head,” catcher Bengie Molina said after a 15-minute clubhouse meeting in which Angel athletic trainer Ned Bergert discussed precautions players should take in Toronto, where SARS has been cited as the cause of 16 deaths.

“We might come back with something, and that’s what I don’t like. Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Pitcher Kevin Appier, who on Wednesday suggested that baseball officials consider moving the upcoming Angel-Blue Jay series to Anaheim, said he felt “OK” about making the trip after Bergert told players they could they could minimize the risk of contracting the mysterious illness by avoiding crowds and maintaining proper hygiene.

“I still don’t feel like there’s absolutely no risk,” Appier said, “but it’s certainly not extreme.”

Rich Levin, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, said his office has not given any thought to canceling games or switching venues as the Blue Jays prepare to open a nine-game homestand Friday against the Kansas City Royals. The Angels open a three-game series at SkyDome a week from today.

“Obviously, we are very sensitive to it and I am very concerned,” Commissioner Bud Selig said from New York, “but our own doctors are telling us not to do anything out of the ordinary at this time. The advice we’re getting internally is to proceed. Proceed with caution, but proceed.”

Baseball’s medical advisor, Dr. Elliot Pellman, has been in contact with Toronto health agencies and the Centers for Disease Control, Levin said.

Pellman participated in a 45-minute conference call Thursday with Bergert and several other trainers from clubs that will travel to Toronto before the All-Star break.

“The purpose of it was to separate fact from fiction and to advise the clubs how to deal with this,” Levin said. “Most of the recommendations were based on hygiene.”

Levin said Pellman recommended that players thoroughly wash their hands and refrain from using other people’s utensils or drinking glasses. Bergert gave the suggestions to the Angels before their game against the New York Yankees at Edison Field.

“I feel 100% safe with the information we received and the precautions they’re taking,” pitcher Scott Schoeneweis said.

The Royals have taken extra safety measures such as organizing a players’ dinner in the team hotel and arranging for an activity and recreation room so that players avoid crowds as much as possible.

Tim Mead, the Angels’ director of communications, said the club has not discussed similar plans.

“Right now it’s been more of the don’ts than the do’s,” he said.

Schoeneweis said players traditionally eat together in a restaurant at the team hotel when they stay in Toronto and might opt to do the same this time.

Reliever Ben Weber said what worries him is that SARS has an incubation period of two to seven days. “You could go and get it and bring it back and not even know it,” he said.

Weber said his primary concern is passing on the disease, which originated in China and has been attributed to more than 260 deaths worldwide, to his triplets. But he remains a realist.

“Let’s put it in perspective,” Weber said. “You have more of a chance of dying on the road [in an accident] than remotely of catching this thing.”

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Times staff writers Dave Morgan in New York and Bill Shaikin in Anaheim contributed to this report.