The Milwaukee Brewers' ace, Yovani Gallardo, was arrested Tuesday morning for drunk driving after posting a 0.22 blood-alcohol level, which is .14 over the legal limit in the state of Wisconsin. Luckily, for the right-hander and the Brewers, he will face no jail time since Gallardo never had a prior criminal record.
However, according to ESPN Wisconsin, fines are coming his way that could reach sums close to $800. Gallardo was spotted driving slowly and unable to remain in his lane. It will be "$300 for operating while intoxicated... $300 because of the level of intoxication and $178.80 for lane deviation," pointed out Drew Olson of ESPN.
It's good news that Gallardo will not miss time on the field, but the Brewers hope the 0.22 reflected Gallardo's ERA this season instead of his blood-alcohol level. So far this year, in three starts made, Gallardo's ERA is at 6.61, he is 0-1 in the season. At 27 years of age, Gallardo is playing in his seventh season in the big leagues. In the past four seasons he has started at least 30 games and been a key component in the Brewers success in seasons past. In those four years from 2009-2012, Gallardo struck out over 200 hitters and in the final two years, he surpassed 200 innings pitched.
He has always finished with a .500 record every season he's played and currently has a 69-44 career record. The Brewers could use more consistency as the division is packed with young talent and now down to five teams as the Houston Astros were placed in the American League. They are currently 3-8.
Gallardo is undoubtedly one of the parts that keeps the Brew Crew moving and hopefully, he can put this in his past.
This isn't the first time a player has been handed a DUI. A few years back, in 2011, it was a trend. Shin-Soo Choo, Austin Kearns, Miguel Cabrera, Derek Lowe, Coco Crisp and Adam Kennedy were all caught and apparently, none missed baseball time. Gallardo is the latest addition to the DUI/DWI player list in baseball.
Hopefully, it doesn't take a serious accident to help realize that DUI's and DWI's are uncool and unsafe.
