“Again, it’s up to him,” Torre said. “He knows his body better than anybody else. If he feels he needs to be sharper, he’ll stay down there for one more turn.”

If he wants more work, Clemens might choose to make another minor league start, perhaps for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, before returning to the big leagues June 2 or 3 at Boston, his original club.

Current Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein sat behind home plate and watched the game.

“I’m just here to watch my guys play,” Epstein said.

Clemens took the “Madden” bus from New York and arrived at Trenton about 1 p.m. Less than an hour later, he was holding court on the mound with members of the Thunder.

“It’s exciting,” Clemens said. “I mean I am happy I get an opportunity to maybe perform in places where I normally would not have the opportunity to. I have gotten to see some neat towns. Coming here from New York it was a pretty neat drive. I am meeting some new guys and that’s all part of it. I enjoy doing it.”

A Yankees’ season ticket holder, Kevin Carpenter of Norwalk, Conn., gave up his seats for Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankees Stadium to see Clemens.

“He’s been my Babe Ruth growing up. I even made the ultimate sacrifice switching from a Red Sox fan to a Yankees fan,” Carpenter said.

Clemens threw 58 pitches in four innings for Class-A Tampa on Friday night. He allowed one run on three hits — a solo homer — and struck out two against the Fort Myers Miracle, a Minnesota Twins affiliate.

Clemens was a bit wild in the first inning, when plate umpire Clory Blaser didn’t give him the 13-time All Star any breaks.

Leadoff hitter Jeff Corsaletti led off the game with a fly out to deep drive to left center and the inning ended when Bryan Pritz’s long fly was caught on the warning track with the bases loaded.

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Clemens mixed in more sliders and breaking balls the rest of the way.

Portland touched Clemens for a run in third. Jed Lowrie hit a leadoff double to right center on a hanging slider and scored on a pair of groundouts — on the first one, Clemens hustled to cover first base.

Clemens agreed to a $28,000,022, one-year contract on May 6 and began working out at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla., last week.

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