KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Only three pitchers won 20 games in the Majors last season. And only two of them received enough credit.

No, the other one wasn't Curt Schilling. He always gets enough credit. And it wasn't Johan Santana, either. He won the American League Cy Young Award, which is an annual ultimate in pitching recognition.

That leaves us with Roy Oswalt of the Houston Astros. He went 20-10. He was the only National Leaguer to win 20. Of course, he did not win the NL Cy Young, because his teammate, Roger Clemens, did. But this season of Oswalt's was no accident, no fluke, no aberration. At 20-10, he was actually below his career lifetime winning percentage, which is a lofty .700 (63-27).

"He's one of the premier pitchers in the game and a lot of people haven't even noticed it," Astros manager Phil Garner says. "You win 20 games in modern-day baseball, you're doing something right."

Oswalt's performance is probably going to exceed his level of recognition for the foreseeable future. Clemens will continue to get most of the attention among pitchers on this team. And Andy Pettitte, returning from elbow surgery, will get a heavy dose of attention this season as well.

When it is suggested to Oswalt that perhaps the next time he wins 20, he might also get some recognition, he smiles and says:

"That'd be nice, but we let Roger and Andy get all that and I just stay back behind them."

There are a couple of things going on with that one-liner. One is that Oswalt is not going to turn into a relentless self-promoter. He is not even going to turn into a part-time self-promoter. But the other is that this is a man with a keen awareness of his circumstances, and in this case, he's smirking a little bit at those circumstances. And that's all right, too.

Roy Oswalt presents himself to the world as a soft-spoken fellow from a small town in Mississippi. This is an accurate presentation. But it does not convey the additional fact that he is a competitor with bulldog tenacity.

"The soft-spoken quality belies the fact that he has an edge to him," Garner says. "It's what we would call in Tennessee, a 'back-country edge.' It's almost like you don't trust anybody that you don't call a homeboy from down the street that you grew up with. But I'll tell you, he is a competitor.

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"[Winning 20 games] feels good, but the thing about this game is, pretty much everything you've done, somebody has done it before you. It's hard to accomplish something. If I won 35, I'd feel a lot better."

-- Roy Oswalt

"[His 2004 performance] was overlooked. I said all along, Clemens and Pettitte are going to get all the press and, to a certain degree, that may be good because the focus is not on Roy right now and he can let his career develop. It may be a little bit of a plus, because the weight of the world is not on Roy's shoulders, it's on Clemens' shoulders, and Pettitte.

"But it can't be denied that the fortunes of this club hinge on all three of them. We need two of them to pitch as well as they did last year and the third one to join in."

Oswalt made his first start of the spring Saturday, working two perfect innings against the Atlanta Braves. It was early, but Oswalt was typically crisp, needing just 22 pitches, 16 of which were strikes. He got four groundouts, one pop fly and a strikeout. He got three outs with changeups. In early March, he looked in mid-season form.

"The biggest thing was hitting my spots," Oswalt said. "I felt like I could throw the ball where I wanted to."

This is a mature pitching talent for age 27, a rare combination of both power and pitching craft. Having ascended to the 20-game level, is life as a Major League pitcher any different for Oswalt?

"Not really," Oswalt says. "I feel like I'm older. Some of the guys are younger than me now. You still have to get here and do your job. It doesn't matter what you did last year, it's what you do this year.

"The good thing about winning 20 is that you know you're winning more than half of your starts for your club, and anytime you're winning 20 you're giving your club a chance to get into the playoffs. It feels good, but the thing about this game is, pretty much everything you've done, somebody has done it before you. It's hard to accomplish something. If I won 35, I'd feel a lot better."

Roy Oswalt  /   P
		Born: 08/29/77 Height: 6'0" Weight: 185 lbs Bats: R / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

Oswalt smiled when he said that. But he welcomes rather than shuns any additional expectations that winning 20 games will bring.

"I like guys depending on me when I go out there," he says. "So hopefully I can do it again this year."

These are high but completely realistic expectations for Roy Oswalt. He is, whether enough people get it or not, one of the premier pitchers in the game today. Because of the high and historical profile of some of his colleagues, he will probably continue to get less than his fair share of recognition in the short-term future. But if he keeps pitching the way he has already pitched, the credit that his career merits will eventually come his way.

"We talk about Clemens and we talk about Pettitte," Garner says, "but people will talk about Roy in the same way in another year or two. He's very quietly put together a [darn] nice career."