NEW YORK - Yeah, Yankee Stadium can have that effect.

It can pick up the pulse, raise the performance, push one to new limits.

	Frank Franklin II, Associated Press Pirates' Jack Wilson (2) throws out Yankees' Johnny Damon at first base during the third inning of interleague baseball action last night in in New York. Click photo for larger image. Today Game: Pirates (LHP Paul Maholm 2-8, 5.35) vs. New York Yankees (RHP Roger Clemens, season debut), 1:05 p.m., Yankee Stadium. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Key matchup: The Rocket vs. the National League batting champion. Freddy Sanchez is 4 for 10 with a home run and two doubles against Clemens. Of note: Maholm has pitched seven or more innings in his past three starts, a promising sign. But he will be facing the Yankees for the first time and has a 5.56 ERA in four career interleague starts. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Torre would rather be at PNC Major League Baseball Draft: Nutting denies 'cheap' reports Smizik: Pirates let fans down one more time Seattle picks Dukes' Meyer in 15th round

And, in the very same vein, it can chew up and spit out anyone daring to hope that the home team will not match that same level.

That was the lesson these Pirates learned, with equal parts pride and pain, in their 5-4, 10-inning loss to the New York Yankees last night.

"We battled our butts off out there," right fielder Ryan Doumit said. "And I'll tell you what: I think we made a statement to the Yankees. We battled and battled and ..."

He paused.

"But it came down to the Yankees being the Yankees. And Derek Jeter being Derek Jeter."

Jeter, whose clutch ability already is legend in these parts, squibbed an infield single off Pirates closer Matt Capps with the bases loaded in the 10th to finish it.

Capps was pitching his second inning after a scoreless ninth, and Robinson Cano opened by rocketing his first-pitch fastball off the left-field fence for a double. Melky Cabrera bunted him to third, and Miguel Cairo's grounder to third resulted in an infield single when Jose Bautista glanced over his shoulder to see if Cano was running.

He was not, and Johnny Damon was intentionally walked to load the bases

Up came Jeter, with 54,240 standing and shaking the old house.

He tapped Capps' first pitch toward second baseman Freddy Sanchez so slowly and so fortunately placed that, even if Sanchez had come up with it cleanly - he failed on a barehand attempt - he had no shot to get Cano at home, as he would have had to throw against his body.

Yankees win.

So much for Tom Gorzelanny's solid start, so much for Chris Duffy's two-run inside-the-park home run that brought a 4-2 lead in the seventh, so much for Damaso Marte leaving bases loaded in the bottom of that inning and, most important by far, so much for any chance the Pirates could convert all of the above into a real, resonating victory.

"We played a great baseball game," manager Jim Tracy said. "We did everything we could do."

Well, not everything.

"The unfortunate part," Tracy continued, "is that we had opportunities. We had opportunities to score more runs, and we had opportunities to keep them from tying us in the seventh."

That surely stung the most.

The Pirates built that 4-2 lead on Xavier Nady's second-inning home run off Andy Pettitte, Wilson's RBI single in the fifth and, after Hideki Matsui's two-run home run off Gorzelanny in the sixth tied it, Duffy's most unusual of home runs.

With a man at second and two outs in the seventh, Duffy lined a Pettitte fastball into center field, and Cabrera, charging with full force, underestimated how hard it was hit. He leaped at the last moment, but it sailed all the way to the fence for an easy sprint around the bases for the speedy Duffy.

"First of my life," he said.

Judging from the rich, emotional reaction in the Pirates' dugout, they must have sensed the game leaning their way.

Not for long.

Gorzelanny found trouble in the bottom half, giving up Miguel Cairo's double and, one out later, Jeter's line-drive single just to the left of shortstop Jack Wilson that cut the Pirates' lead to 4-3.

Wilson never moved to that ball, and Gorzelanny was visibly upset with him. A television camera clearly caught him saying to Wilson, "What's your problem?"

Wilson's explanation was that the ball bent back his way dramatically and that, by the time he saw that, it was too late.

"Actually, I never had a chance at it either way," Wilson said.

He and Gorzelanny spoke later and cleared the air. Gorzelanny said he saw the play the same way as Wilson.

The temperature was rising.

Tracy removed Gorzelanny in favor of John Grabow. Bobby Abreu singled to put men at the corners.

Tracy tried Salomon Torres. He hit Alex Rodriguez to load the bases, then gave up Jorge Posada's RBI single to right.

The pendulum had swung but, again, not for long.

Marte battled Matsui through an eight-pitch at-bat before freezing him with a fastball, then got Cano to pop up on his 10th pitch to preserve the 4-4 tie.

"Brilliant," Tracy called it.

The Pirates had five men reach in the next three innings, twice in scoring position, and did nothing.

And Tracy, after a scoreless eighth from Jonah Bayliss, simply ran out of arms he could trust. He turned to Capps for the ninth, then sent him back out for the 10th, even though he had thrown two innings the previous day.

Capps and other Pirates acknowledged the atmosphere, electric throughout the evening with the home team riding its first four-game winning streak of the season, but few seemed to mind it.

"I wouldn't say it had anything to do with anything," Capps said. "When I was out there, facing hitters on the mound, I didn't hear it. You're too locked in. Plain and simple, we played hard, we battled, and we'll be back tomorrow."

"The way I'd explain how we played is that this was a crucial game for us," Gorzelanny said. "Unfortunately, we didn't win it. But I think we have a good team, and I think we're going to find a way to pull out games like that."