Roger Clemens could make his first start this season for the New York Yankees next Monday night in Toronto, the New York Post reported.

Clemens flew in to New York on Sunday night to check out the three-game series against the Boston Red Sox, the Post said.

Clemens' next outing will be at Double-A Trenton on Wednesday, his second since signing his contract May 6 to join the Yankees.

If he comes through that game looking healthy, he could make his first major-league start of the season against the Blue Jays on Monday, the Post said.

With Yankees owner George Steinbrenner watching from a private box at Legends Field, Clemens threw 58 pitches and gave up only a solo homer Friday night for Class-A Tampa in the first minor league start of his latest comeback.

“Right now I’m in high gear. In the next four or five days, hopefully I’ll be able to step back and get a grasp on everything,” the 44-year-old Clemens said.

“I’ve pushed my body to a point now in the last three weeks that hopefully I can start trying to retain some energy so I can get a little better results when I get on the mound.”

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner allowed three hits and struck out two against the Fort Myers Miracle, a Minnesota Twins affiliate. He left to a standing ovation from a crowd of 10,257 — up from 1,108 the Florida State League teams drew the previous night.

The Boss liked what he saw.

“He looked good. He looked fine,” Steinbrenner said. “He was all we expected.”

Erik Lis homered in the first inning off Clemens, who came out of the game after needing just eight pitches to get through a perfect fourth inning. He estimated he threw 50 to 55 pitches while warming up before the game, then did some additional work in the bullpen after the outing.

The Yankees said Clemens’ fastball topped out at 91 mph and averaged 90 during the appearance.

“I had my mouth open a little bit in the first inning. That was good. I wasn’t panting, but I was breathing pretty hard,” Clemens said, explaining that he wanted to push himself to exhaustion.

“I think I’m a little further along than I anticipated. Several times I drove off the mound and felt my legs came with me. A couple of times they didn’t.”

Clemens agreed to a $28,000,022, one-year contract on May 6 and has been working out at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa since last Monday. He’s scheduled to make a start with Double-A Trenton on Wednesday and could join New York’s rotation as early as May 28 at Toronto or June 2 or 3 at Boston.

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Asked whether Clemens might be ready after only one more minor league start, Yankees manager Joe Torre said, “That’s a possibility.”

“If he’s doing what he wants to do — as I say, he knows more about his body. But if there’s total objection to it by somebody watching him, I’m sure he would rethink,” Torre said after the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Mets.

With the Yankees 10 games behind Boston in the AL East, Clemens wants a rapid return.

“I’m going to get ready as soon as possible,” Clemens said. “I’m trying to push myself, but I’m also trying to be smart about it.”

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman doesn’t want to rush Clemens, either.

“I know that he’s going to try to get back as soon as he realistically can. But ultimately the games will tell you. His body will tell you,” Cashman said in New York.

“Tonight is game one. We’ll get a clearer picture here or a better picture after one, but really probably after two games we’ll get a feel for how close he is.”

Clemens also brushed aside criticism from Yankees reliever Kyle Farnsworth, who said this week that no pitcher should be allowed to leave the team when they aren’t pitching. Clemens’ contract allows him to leave the team for personal matters when he’s not scheduled to pitch.

“I’m not even going to comment on it,” Clemens said. “It’s not worth commenting on. I’m pretty tired of answering about it. Again, we’ve got far more serious issues to worry about right now than that.”

Ninety minutes before gametime, a sign on the ticket window outside Legends Field — the Yankees’ spring training home — read “sold out.” Inside, there were plenty of empty seats, but fans gave Clemens a warm reception.

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