Derek Lowe charged with DUI

[ThomasTomasz]

Great news for the Braves, especially after the Roger McDowell comments to a fan.

ATLANTA (AP)—Atlanta Braves pitcher Derek Lowe(notes) was charged with drunken driving, another blow to a team already dealing with allegations that pitching coach Roger McDowell spewed homophobic comments before a game in San Francisco last weekend.

Gordy Wright, a spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol, said a trooper stopped Lowe’s vehicle about 10 p.m. Thursday after it was spotted racing another car down an Atlanta street. The trooper detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage and administered a field sobriety test, which resulted in Lowe’s arrest.

The 37-year-old right-hander was charged with DUI, reckless driving and improper lane change, Wright said. Lowe declined to take a breath test before he was released, the spokesman added. The other driver also was stopped, but there were no immediate details on whether he was charged.

The Braves were off Thursday after returning home from a West Coast road trip. They open a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

“Obviously we are concerned and disappointed about the events involving Derek Lowe overnight,” the team said in a statement. “We are currently gathering information and plan to address this matter later today.”

Lowe, who could not immediately be reached for comment, is in the third season of a four-year, $60 million contract with the Braves. He has been the team’s opening-day starter all three years.

This season, Lowe is 2-3 with a 3.21 earned run average. He is scheduled to make his next start Sunday.

The Braves already were investigating allegations against McDowell, who was accused of making crude comments, sexual gestures and threatened to knock out a fan’s teeth with a bat. The coach could face disciplinary action from the team or Major League Baseball.

“I am deeply sorry that I responded to the heckling fans in San Francisco,” McDowell said in a statement, his only public comments on the incident. “I apologize to everyone for my actions.”

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said McDowell’s apology was only a start, and baseball commissioner Bud Selig called the accusations “very troubling.” MLB is awaiting the results of the Braves’ investigation before determining whether to take action.

McDowell was a star reliever with the Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in the late 1980s and early ’90s, playing a key role on New York’s 1986 World Series-winning club.

He has been the Atlanta’s pitching coach since 2005.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-lowearrest

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I love the tacked on improper lane change charge.

That's like charging someone for jaywalking because they cut across traffic before molesting a child.

 

[NAHSTE]

This happened right in my neighborhood, on the busiest surface street in Atlanta and one where cops stake out every night. Notorious DUI trap. He's an idiot, plain and simple.

But anyway, as long as he keeps locating his slider effectively vs. right-handed hitters like he has, it's all good.

 

[Big Papi]

Well Lowe gets caught drunk driving and doing some racing gets to make his start on time, gets some fines blah blah, then that coach for them gets suspended and fined for that comment or whatever he did that was racial.

 

[SethMode]

point being that first off Derek Lowe was caught doing wrong red handed.

Roger McDowell may have done what he did, could have been baited into some sort of action, really who knows, just for the sake that the person hired the Civil Rights lawyer tells me that they were doing what they did to get some publicity for whatever reason and along my way of Message Boards I've came across that Giants fans seem to harbor some resentment of the Braves for whatever reasons not made obvious.

Another point being that all McDowell did was say some foolish/hateful words. Derek Lowe literally could have killed a man.

 

[NAHSTE]

Another point being that all McDowell did was say some foolish/hateful words. Derek Lowe literally could have killed a man.

I think it's just that alienating the gay community in one of the the countries largest gay populations would affect their bottom line at some point. If we're judging them on moral equivalence, yes, drunk driving is more potentially dangerous than saying hateful/ignorant words ... but the Braves also have PR and ticket sales to worry about.

 

[SethMode]

I think it's just that alienating the gay community in one of the the countries largest gay populations would affect their bottom line at some point. If we're judging them on moral equivalence, yes, drunk driving is more potentially dangerous than saying hateful/ignorant words ... but the Braves also have PR and ticket sales to worry about.

True, the Braves have enough issues selling tickets as it is.

 

:smug:

 

[NAHSTE]

True, the Braves have enough issues selling tickets as it is.

 

:smug:

Which is why we can't have our pitching coach out there saying that kids don't belong at a ballpark.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Both men should be facing punishment, although Lowe could also face prison time (doubtful if this is his first offense.) If I were the Braves, I would have him suspended for the same two weeks, and potentially more after it was cleared up in court.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_y...B_union_DUI_policy_punishment_baseball_050411

That is a pretty long article, but a very good read on this subject of DUIs and MLB. Something that other leagues should follow suit in, as it should have been done a long time ago.

 

[NAHSTE]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_y...B_union_DUI_policy_punishment_baseball_050411

That is a pretty long article, but a very good read on this subject of DUIs and MLB. Something that other leagues should follow suit in, as it should have been done a long time ago.

The MLB is impossibly lenient on alcohol. They didn't stop providing post game beer for players in the club house until Josh Hancock's tragic death and the toxicology report revealed that he was drunk off his ass (as well as stoned). I think any sort of policy is better than nothing. It's not that hard to not drive drunk. It's really not.

If you're a successful athlete -- or even anyone with a steady pay check to be honest -- you have no excuse. Pay for a god damn cab.

In Lowe's case it was especially troubling because he was "racing" ... that to me is even worse than what Choo did and shows a deliberate intent to drive wrecklessly. In Lowe's case he decided to race down the city's most trafficked surface street and most notorious booze strip at 10 pm on a Friday night. I really think Choo just got lost and then started to freak out because he's a lightweight.

Either way, there need to be 10-game suspensions for this shit.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

The MLB is impossibly lenient on alcohol. They didn't stop providing post game beer for players in the club house until Josh Hancock's tragic death and the toxicology report revealed that he was drunk off his ass (as well as stoned). I think any sort of policy is better than nothing. It's not that hard to not drive drunk. It's really not.

If you're a successful athlete -- or even anyone with a steady pay check to be honest -- you have no excuse. Pay for a god damn cab.

In Lowe's case it was especially troubling because he was "racing" ... that to me is even worse than what Choo did and shows a deliberate intent to drive wrecklessly. In Lowe's case he decided to race down the city's most trafficked surface street and most notorious booze strip at 10 pm on a Friday night. I really think Choo just got lost and then started to freak out because he's a lightweight.

Either way, there need to be 10-game suspensions for this shit.

10 game minimum suspensions, escalating very quickly. I do like the idea of the players union having some kind of service worked out in the cities where games are held. That could severely curtail this, but there is always going to be an idiot like Lowe who does something stupid, or the person who thinks nothing bad can happen to them.