HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros weren't sure which direction they wanted to take in finding a replacement for radio play-by-play man Milo Hamilton for road games, but after a long interview process, they came up with a formula that no one could have expected.

The club decided to hire two veteran Minor League announcers to share the duties and not retain Alan Ashby, whose tenure as the color announcer spanned from 1998 through the end of the 2005 season.

Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond will team up for the road radio broadcasts and will share the color duties while working with Hamilton during home games. Hamilton, 78, announced midseason in 2005 that he would reduce his workload to home games only beginning in '06.

For now, the plan is for Dolan and Raymond to share the play-by-play and color duties while the team is on the road. At home, the duties will be defined homestand to homestand. One broadcaster will do color while the other hosts the pregame and postgame shows, and the two will switch the next homestand.

This could be construed as somewhat of an audition for Dolan and Raymond, who will likely be evaluated on where they're strongest, whether it be play-by-play or color.

"We'll wait and see," club president of business operations Pam Gardner said. "We expect it to be a shared responsibility. These were the best guys to be paired with Milo. We expect it to be a fun, really fresh broadcast.

"Will [the roles] emerge one way or another? It's likely. But it's just as likely it'll be a back-and-forth role."

Ashby, 54, was the Astros' catcher for 11 seasons from 1979-89 and in 1999 was selected by a panel of experts as the catcher of the all-Astrodome team. He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. Before moving to the radio booth, Ashby spent the 1997 season serving as the Astros' bullpen coach.

Ashby said the news that he was not retained came as a complete shock. He was boarding a plane for Salt Lake City early Tuesday when he received a call from the Astros, asking him to come to the ballpark immediately for a meeting.

Having interviewed for the vacant road play-by-play job, Ashby figured he was about to receive good news.

"I made the assumption I was gettting the play-by-play job," he said. "They told me they were going in an extremely different direction and I was not going to be retained for 2006. I was totally blown away and surprised, and I'm devastated."

Said Gardner: "He was certainly a candidate [for the vacant position] and a fine broadcaster. He did a great job. There was no ill will at all. It was the process. [Dolan and Raymond] emerged as a pair we thought together would make a great combination."

A 16-year broadcasting veteran, Dolan joins the Astros from the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders, where he served as the club's director of broadcasting and "Voice of the Sidewinders" for the last six seasons, from 2000-05.

Named Arizona Sportscaster of the Year in 2002 and 2003, Dolan previously spent two seasons with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs (1998-99) and four seasons with the Class A Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League (1994-97).

A graduate of the University of Iowa, Dolan has also covered University of Arizona football and basketball in recent offseasons and was selected to broadcast the 2004 Triple-A All-Star Game. His other career experience includes broadcasting selected games for the Montreal Expos in 2003 and 2004 along with the 2004 and 2005 Arizona Fall League games for MLB.com Radio.

Dolan earned a 2004 Crystal Award of Excellence in Radio from the Communicator Awards, an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding work in the communication field.

Raymond is a Stanford University graduate and a 11-year broadcasting veteran who spent the 2005 season with the Brockton Rox of the Independent Can-Am League in Brockton, Mass. His Major League Baseball broadcasting experience includes selected games for the Baltimore Orioles in 2005 and the San Francisco Giants in 2003.

Raymond also broadcast games for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs for five seasons from 2000-04, and his other baseball broadcasting experience includes one season with the Class A Charleston River Dogs and four seasons with the Sonoma County Crushers (1995-98) of the Western League.

A former senior class president at Stanford, Raymond also broadcast Cardinal women's basketball for four seasons from 1998-2001. He has also provided play-by-play on selected Drake University football and both men's and women's basketball game broadcasts during the last four season. Raymond is also a former business reporter for Forbes Magazine, where he was a 2001 Loeb Award nominee for outstanding business reporting.

As for Ashby, he's not sure where he goes from here.

"I'm one of those 54 1/2-year-old guys who suddenly lost his job and doesn't know where to turn," he said. "I loved the eight years doing what I did. I appreciate the fans and what they've given to me so much through the years. I wish there could have been more."

The television broadcast crew will remain the same, Bill Brown returning for his 20th season as the club's primary television play-by-play voice and Jim Deshaies and Larry Dierker sharing color analyst duties.