Houston ? Roy Oswalt likes his position in the Houston Astros’ playoff rotation.

Back home for Game 3 of their NL division series and needing a victory to take control, the Astros finally get to their 20-game winner against the Atlanta Braves. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens started the first two games.

“I like those guys to get all the recognition, myself. I don’t like to be the guy that stands out,” Oswalt said Friday, a day before his fourth career playoff start. “I like kind of sneaking up on guys instead of being out front.”

That doesn’t mean Oswalt (20-12), the first pitcher since 2001-02 with consecutive 20-win seasons, isn’t a big-game pitcher. The right-hander from Weir, Miss., a town of about 600 people, just isn’t enamored with the spotlight off the mound.

“I think Rocket and Andy really like being on the big stage. They sort of feed off that a little bit,” manager Phil Garner said. “Roy doesn’t shy down from it at all, but his personality is just much more low-key.”

Oswalt was Houston’s starter on opening day, not Clemens or Pettitte for their hometown team. And Oswalt’s last start was in the regular-season finale Sunday, when he beat the Chicago Cubs to make sure the Astros won the wild card outright without having to play a one-game tiebreaker.

“I don’t think he’s going to be running for political office any time soon. He just enjoys pitching,” Garner said. “If he could just move all this into his hometown, I think he’d be perfectly fine with that.”