Atlanta ? Jaret Wright couldn’t get much lower: Waived by a last-place team, he stood outside Houston’s Minute Maid Park with his luggage stacked beside him, waiting for a cab that would take him to the airport.

As it turned out, things were starting to look up.

Wright was claimed by the Atlanta Braves, who remembered when he was a 21-year-old phenom starting the deciding game of the 1997 World Series, before injuries sent his career into a tailspin.

Just over a year later, Wright has come full circle. The right-hander will start Game 1 of the NL playoffs against Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros.

“It happened a lot quicker than I thought it would,” Wright said Tuesday on the eve of the opening game at Turner Field.

Wright pitched well enough over the final month last season to earn a spot on the playoff roster as a reliever. Heading into spring training, he asked for a chance to start again and claimed the final spot in the rotation.

As the season went along, it became clear that Wright was Atlanta’s best starter. He finished 15-8 with a 3.28 earned-run average — moving to the top of the rotation in the best-of-five division series.

He’ll go against a future Hall of Famer today.

The 42-year-old Clemens, who called off retirement to pitch for the Astros, had another remarkable season (18-4, 2.98) and is one of the leading contenders for the NL Cy Young award.

“He’s done a lot of stuff in the game that’s amazing,” Wright said. “To have my name called in Game 1 and go up against him, it’s an honor. I’m up for it. He’s going to battle. I’m going to battle just as hard.”

Clemens couldn’t pitch the final game of the regular season when stricken by a stomach virus.

The Astros won anyway, capping a remarkable run (36-10) over the final seven weeks that was good enough to claim the wild card by one game over San Francisco.

Now, Clemens is available to start the playoffs. He threw some with his oldest son Monday, felt better Tuesday and knows he’ll be well enough to pitch Game 1.

“However I feel, I’m going to make the most of it,” Clemens said after the Astros arrived at Turner Field for an afternoon workout. “I’ve pitched with different aches and pains throughout the years.”

The Astros seem to have a huge advantage on the mound for the opener. Clemens is a six-time Cy Young winner with 328 wins on his resume. Wright’s career record is just 52-45.

Then again, the 28-year-old right-hander knows a thing or two about pitching in pressure situations.

As a rookie for the Cleveland Indians in 1997, Wright beat the New York Yankees twice in the division series and was the second-youngest pitcher ever to start to start Game 7 of the World Series.

He shut out the Florida Marlins for six innings, but came out after giving up a homer to Bobby Bonilla that cut Cleveland’s lead to 2-1.

Wright then watched in dismay as Cleveland’s bullpen gave up the tying run in the ninth, then the series-deciding run in the 11th.

Wright rarely tunes in for replays of that painful loss.

“I’ve caught glimpses of it,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird feeling. You get butterflies a little bit all over again watching it. I probably would have watched it 50 times over if we had won.”

Then came the injuries. After two shoulder operations and seven stints on the disabled list, the Indians gave up on Wright. He signed with San Diego before last season but went 1-4 with an 8.74 ERA in a mop-up role. By late August, the Padres threw in the towel, too.

The team was in Houston — of all places — when the Braves claimed Wright off waivers.

“When he joined our ball club, we gave him one inning at a time in important situations,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “And he pitched well for us right away.”