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Posted at 11:49 a.m., Friday, December 21, 2007

Baseball: Keough held in OC jail for binge drinking

Associated Press

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Former baseball pitcher Matt Keough remained jailed today, four days after he was arrested for violating his drunken-driving parole by binge-drinking at a hotel bar.

Keough, whose estranged wife stars on the TV reality show "Real Housewives of Orange County," was arrested Tuesday. He had been drinking at the Fashion Island Marriott hotel bar, police said.

"Somebody called us," Sgt. Evan Sailor said. "They were concerned about him, just his inebriated condition. He had been at the hotel a couple of days."

Keough's probation was revoked at a court hearing Friday and he was ordered held without bail in the Orange County jail, the district attorney's office said. His scheduled arraignment was postponed to Jan. 14.

The arrest came less than a week after Keough completed a 90-day stint at the Newport Beach city jail for another alcohol-related parole violation in October, authorities said.

He was a trustee at the jail, police said.

"The officers recognized him. They know he's not supposed to have alcohol, and they arrested him," police Lt. Steve Koudelka said. "Even a sip of alcohol would be enough to violate his probation."

In 1992, Keough was nearly killed when he was hit in the head by a line drive while sitting in the dugout during an Anaheim Angels exhibition game at spring training in Arizona.

"We're convinced that this (drinking) is related to the brain injury that he suffered," Keough's attorney, Dan Grigsby, said Friday.

Grigsby said. "I've known him since high school and he hasn't been the same since."

"We're looking to get him the help he needs," he said. "We don't think him being in jail serves any purpose."

Keough, 52, spent three months behind bars after pleading guilty to drunken driving for a 2005 accident. Authorities said Keough was driving to his home in Coto de Caza when his sport utility vehicle rear-ended another SUV at a red light in Rancho Santa Margarita. The other car was pushed into a man who was pushing a bicycle across the street. The man was briefly hospitalized for a knee injury.

The incident occurred after a family fight and Keough's blood-alcohol level was found to be 2› times the legal limit, authorities said.

After the accident, Keough checked himself in to the Betty Ford Clinic, and later attended an outpatient alcohol treatment program.

Keough pitched for the Oakland Athletics from 1977-1983, making a 1978 All-Star appearance. He later played with the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and spent four years with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan. He tried out with the Anaheim Angels in 1991 but did not make the roster until the next year, when he was injured.

Keough was a minor league coach and an executive for the Angels from 1992 to 1999, later becoming a scout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and a special assistant to the general manager of the Athletics.

Keough also appeared with his wife, Jeana, a former Playboy Playmate, and the couple's three children on "Real Housewives of Orange County." During the show's third season, Jeana announced that the couple had separated.