Portland Sea Dogs hitters will get a chance to be part of The Rocket’s re-entry into professional ball tonight.

Portland’s hitters will get an advance look at what Boston’s batters will be seeing in another couple weeks as Roger Clemens starts on the mound for the Trenton Thunder.

The 7:05 p.m. Eastern League game in Trenton, N.J., matches Clemens (0-0, 2.25 ERA) against Texas native and Dogs ace Clay Buchholz (1-1, 1.82 ERA).

“It’s one game out of 142, but it’s a special game and one for the memory banks,” said Sea Dogs manager Arnie Beyeler. “Any time you get to see a Hall of Famer throw like that, it’s a unique chance for us.”

Ironically, the righthanded Buchholz grew up in Lumberton, Texas, just 97 miles away from Clemens’ home in Katy. Clemens attended the University of Texas and has lived much of his life in Texas, but is actually a native of Ohio.

Beyeler, a former minor league coach in the Yankees organization (1997-99) last saw Clemens pitch in person for the Yankees in the 1999 World Series. He hasn’t imparted any special advice or counsel to his players.

“They’ll be seeing better stuff than what they’re used to seeing,” Beyeler said. “The guys will be excited and they’ll be intimidated, but they’ll be looking forward to facing him and seeing what a Hall of Fame fastball and Hall of Fame split-fingered pitch look like.

“They know what they’re facing. They started buzzing a week ago about this. They’ve been gigged up about it for awhile and it’ll be a lot of fun.”

Rather than resent the increased attention and media glare Clemens’ start is attracting (MLB.com and MILB.com are both airing the game live and free online), Beyeler is looking forward to it.

“I’m very excited about it. You’ve got to be excited about it,” he said. “It’ll be crazy around here with a lot of people and I’m sure it’ll be sold out, so it’ll be a lot of fun.”

Besides, Beyeler pointed out, it’s not often you get to get an advance taste of major league pitching.

“Anytime you get to see a big leaguer pitch against you – we got to see Ryan Madson from the Phillies throw the other day in Reading against us two days out of three – it’s a great opportunity,” Beyeler said. “You get to see how good those guys are, the way they carve up hitters, the pitches they throw at the knees and how aggressive they are.

“It’s a good reality check for these guys on what it’s like up there and a good learning experience.”

At age 43, Beyeler is a year younger than Clemens, yet Clemens is in his 24th major league season while Beyeler is 16 years removed from his last season as a player (1991 for Triple-A Toldeo).

“He’s an enigma as far as what he does,” said Beyeler, now in his seventh season as a minor league manager and 16th as a coach or manager. “It’s phenomenal what he’s doing. He’s a specimen and he has an unbelievable work ethic that allows him to do what he does in the back half of his career.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net