Former all-star arrested

Oakland Athletics officials are seeking alcohol treatment for the team’s former pitcher and “Real Housewives of Orange County” star Matt Keough, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department official said Thursday.

The former all-star was arrested at a Newport Beach hotel bar earlier this week for violating the terms of his probation for a 2005 conviction for driving under the influence, police said Thursday.

“The Oakland Athletics and his family are trying to get him the treatment he desperately needs,” said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “It shows that baseball is trying to do something.”

Amormino said he spoke with Oakland A’s officials and Keough’s attorney Thursday, who said Keough needed help for problems with alcohol.

Newport Beach police officers found Keough, 52, drinking at the Fashion Island Marriott hotel Tuesday evening after concerned hotel staff called authorities, Newport Beach police Sgt. Evan Sailor said.

“The hotel didn’t know who he was, but they were concerned about him,” Sailor said.

This wasn’t the first time Keough had violated the terms of his probation, Sailor said.

Keough had just finished up a seven-week stint at Newport Beach jail as a trustee for another alcohol-related probation violation, Sailor said. During his stay, Keough performed routine maintenance tasks such as washing patrol cars, Sailor said. Keough finished his term as a trustee Dec. 12, Sailor said.

Keough said publicly in 2006 he voluntarily checked himself into treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic for about a month and later attended an outpatient treatment program at Sober Living by the Sea in Newport Beach for about five months. He continued to attend daily Sober Living meetings in Newport Beach after he finished the program.

Keough is being held without bail at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana, according to jail records.

The former all-star pitcher’s family life and turbulent marriage to ex-Playboy Playmate, Jeana Keough, are highlighted in the hit cable television reality series “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” The show follows the lives of women in the upscale South County gated community Coto de Caza, where Keough and his family live.

Jeana Keough announced in the third season of the show that she and her husband had separated. The couple have three children. Their oldest child, Shane Keough, is an outfielder in the Oakland Athletics farm system.

Keough is not supposed to drink any alcohol under the terms of his probation. In 2005, he pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more causing injury.

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Keough in April 2005 after he slammed his sport utility vehicle into another vehicle at a red light in Rancho Santa Margarita.

The impact caused the other vehicle to hit a man walking his bicycle across the intersection. The man was hospitalized.

Keough left the scene of the accident and was found to have blood alcohol content more than 2 1/2 times the legal limit.

Keough is due in court Friday on probation violation charges.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].