Oswalt delivers the Series

ST. LOUIS – Call him Roy Wonder, the 20-game winner in the same rotation with Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte – and the one who finally pitched the Houston Astros into the World Series.

While Roy Oswalt usually prefers to be out of the spotlight, he is the toast of Houston – and the MVP of the N.L. championship series – after allowing one run in seven innings Wednesday night in a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals that sent the Astros to the first World Series in their 44-season history.

“He was on tonight, and we’ve seen it many times, no-hit stuff early,” Clemens said. “What we saw tonight is what I’ve been witnessing for two years. The guy’s won 20 games twice and they talk about him going unnoticed. He’s not unnoticed around here.”

Oswalt threw 77 of his season-high 118 pitches for strikes and allowed just three hits in the Game 6 clincher.

“Yeah, I would classify it as one of the biggest games,” Oswalt said. “Just because of the history of the team, of not being in the World Series after so many years and getting so close.”

Clemens and Pettitte are going to the World Series again, the former New York Yankees going this time with their hometown team. With Oswalt wrapping up the NLCS, they will pitch the first two World Series games on the road against the Chicago White Sox this weekend.

And Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, teammates in Houston for 15 seasons, finally made it to the World Series for the first time.

The Astros missed a chance to clinch the N.L. pennant at home Monday night when Albert Pujols hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off closer Brad Lidge to give the Cardinals a 5-4 victory.

So Houston celebrated instead after the last game at Busch Stadium, which will be demolished in the next few weeks to make way for a new stadium.

Oswalt is 4-0 in seven career playoff games (six starts), including Game 5 of the N.L. division series in Atlanta last October when he won to give the Astros their first postseason series victory.

Houston also played the Cardinals in the NLCS last year, returning to St. Louis with a 3-2 lead. The Astros dropped the last two games, losing Game 7 after Clemens gave up a two-run lead.

Oswalt, who also beat the Cardinals in Game 2 of this series, made sure they didn’t have to worry about a Game 7 this year in St. Louis.

“The way he went about his business gave us great confidence,” manager Phil Garner said. “He went after them, he challenged them.”