New York ? Clearly, sticking around the major leagues was a great career move for Roger Clemens.

As dominant as ever after reversing his decision to retire, the 42-year-old Rocket easily won his record seventh Cy Young Award on Tuesday after taking the Houston Astros within one win of the World Series.

He received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 140 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, becoming the oldest pitcher to win a Cy Young. Gaylord Perry was 40 when he won the NL award in 1978.

Will Clemens pitch in 2005 or finally call it quits?

“I’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. “I kind of have a feeling on what I need to do and what the future holds.”

Clemens retired after pitching for the New York Yankees in the 2003 World Series, then changed his mind in January and signed with his hometown Astros. He won his first nine decisions and finished 18-4 with a 2.98 earned-run average and 218 strikeouts.

Arizona’s 41-year-old Randy Johnson, second to Clemens with five Cy Youngs, was second in the balloting with eight first-place votes and 97 points. The Big Unit went 16-14 with a 2.60 ERA and a major league-leading 290 strikeouts — Arizona scored two runs or fewer in 17 of his 35 starts.

Houston’s Roy Oswalt, who went 20-10 to lead the NL in wins, was third with 19 points, followed by San Francisco’s Jason Schmidt with 13.