Astros can announcer Ashby

Things are changing in the Astros broadcast booth: Drayton McLane and team President Pam Gardner told veteran broadcaster Alan Ashby yesterday that he won't be returning for the 2006 season. Ashby, who played with the 'Stros for 11 years and has been in the booth with the team for eight years doing color, hoped to do play-by-play for road games next year, but instead, the team will go with a pair of rookies:

The Astros announced that they had hired two veteran minor league announcers, Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond, to work together on Astros road games and to split analyst duties with Milo Hamilton during home games.

Dolan has worked the last six seasons with the Class AAA Tucson Sidewinders. Raymond worked last year with the independent league Brockton Rox after spending five years with the AAA Iowa Cubs.

Ashby was one of eight finalists for the road job. "I was completely caught off guard and am devastated by the decision," he told the Chronicle. Based on response in the Chronicle's Astros forum, the decision caught fans off guard, too.