Count Yankees manager Joe Girardi among the curious who would tune in if, somehow, a Sugar Land Skeeters game winds up on television and the Skeeters' newest acquisition -- 50-year-old Roger Clemens -- happens to be starting.

"I'm sure I would tune in and watch," Girardi said.

Girardi also said he was not surprised to hear that Clemens -- who has not pitched in the big-leagues since 2007 and was recently acquitted of lying under oath when he denied using steroids during a Congressional hearing -- was returning to pitch for the independent Atlantic League team, which is based about 20 miles from his hometown of Houston. Clemens is scheduled to start Saturday against Bridgeport.

"You know, guys love to play. It's in our blood," Girardi said. "He's always loved to compete. That's who he is. He kept coming back. That's a hard thing to replace, that competition. And guys miss it."

Girardi, who will turn 48 in October, dismissed any suggestion that he, too, might attempt a middle-aged comeback.

"No, no, no," the manager laughed. "I feel much better now that I'm not playing."