Drayton McLane--Have You Lost Your Mind?

Of all the bonehead, dumb moves that should not have been made this is it! The Houston Astros are replacing their radio color man, former Astros catcher Alan Ashby!No one expected this, least of all Ashby! After playing for the team for 11 years and broadcasting for 8, he was told he was no longer needed. He was blindsided as were his friends, family and fans. The local media is outraged. Alan Ashby is one of the really nice guys and this is how he gets treated? Since Hall of Famer Milo Hamilton at 78 will only be doing the home games, the team needed another broadcaster. Ashby obviously knows the team very well and has a wonderful history with them. In addition to his playing days prior to radio, he was the bullpen coach in 1997. Having been interviewed for the vacant road play-by-play job, he was called to the ballpark for a meeting thinking he was about to get good news. Instead, he was completely shocked to learn that he was not going to be retained. "I made the assumption I was getting the play-by-play job. They told me they were going in an extremely different direction and I was not going to be retained for 2006. I was titally blown away and surprised, and I'm devastated." Talk about a kick in the gut!

The new team of Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond will be paired with Hamilton for his 22nd season of Astros broatcasting. These guys have experience in Minor League broadcasting. Neither has any knowlege of the Astros. Dolan comes from the Triple A Tuscon Sidewinders. Raymond has Major League experience with the Orioles and Giants. Last year he broadcast the Brocton Rox of the Independent Can-Am League in Brocton, Mass.

I don't like this change at all. Ashby knows the team very well and had a good relationship with Milo Hamilton. Why would "fix what aint broke"? The TV/Radio sports guys are just stunned. They let McLane know what they thought of the change. And it wasn't pretty. Talk about dumb moves. Drayton, What were you thinking? What a boneheaded, stupid move. It smacks of the move former owner, Dr. John McMullin made when he sent Nolan Ryan on up the road to the Rangers where he went on to make more history. Can you say No-Hitter? Dumb,Dumb, Dumb!