10:02 p.m. -- Bronx Bombers? Ha! How 'about them North Shore Knockers? The Pirates piled up 19 hits -- nine for extra bases -- and scored 12 runs against the New York Yankees tonight while getting a very satisfying victory.

The game ended with the fans standing and shouting "Let's Go Bucs!" Cool beans.

9:49 p.m. -- The barrage continues in the eighth. Nyjer Morgan doubles in two runs. Ryan Doumit doubles in Morgan. That's six two-baggers for the local nine. Good thing it doesn't have to pay that drink tax on doubles.

• Crowd is announced as 38,867, a sellout and the third-largest crowd in the eight-year history of PNC Park. Second biggest was 39,129 for the home opener April 10, 2006 when the Los Angeles Dodgers visited in Jim Tracy's first season as Pirate manager. Largest crowd was 39,392 Aug. 11, 2001 for a Saturday night game against San Diego. San Diego? Go figure. One might have thought the largest crowd would be for, say, an interleague game against Kansas City. But not.

• Bad night all around for New York baseball clubs. The Mets are down, 10-0, to Seattle in the eighth. Another rough start for Ollie Perez. That means at the moment the two New York teams are being outscored, 19-3. The Knicks look great by comparison.

• The Pirates' methodical offense continues to roll along. Two more runs in the seventh. They have brought their "A" game indeed!

9:18 p.m. -- Bottom of the seventh and it just occurred to me that for all the hype about this historic Yankee visit the crowd doesn't seem to have a ton of energy. Yes, the fans have cheered when the Pirates have done something positive, but there isn't that sustained buzz in the stands. Maybe those Yankee fans have something to do with that. They can't be real happy.

• With two outs in the seventh, left-hander Damaso Marte relieved Yates and demonstrated why the Yankees are interested in acquiring him. Marte struck out left-handed batting Jason Giambi. The Yankees would love to get either Marte or fellow left-hander John Grabow from the Pirate bullpen. It's believed they'd prefer Grabow. We shall see what transpires.

• Jeter greeted reliever Tyler Yates with a gift double just inside the right field line. Some fan touched the ball, which allowed Jeter the extra base. Fans -- keep your hands off balls in play. That hit, by the way, extended Jeter's streak of reaching base in interleague play to 38 consecutive games, dating to June 25, 2005 against Florida. According to the esteemed Elias Sports Bureau, that's the longest current such streak in the majors. Well, all of baseball, come to think of it.

• Gorzelanny leaves for pinch-hitter Luis Rivas in the sixth. Gorzelanny survived six hits and five walks to allow only three runs. So he gets credit for a quality start -- by definition, anyway.

• The Gateway Clipper "Majestic'' is passing behind right field, giving its traditional horn salute. The fans cheer. That's another thing that makes PNC Park so great.

• A rare happening for Adam LaRoche. He tripled in the fifth inning, missing a home run over the center field wall by a foot or so. It was his third major league triple and first since Aug. 30, 2006 while with Atlanta. He hit his first triple in 2004. Odds are good he'll hit No. 4 in 2010. Will he still be with the Pirates then?

• Just noticed this -- Doug Mientkiewicz is playing in his 1,000th major league game tonight. So far, he's celebrated the occasion with two hits -- boosting his big league hit total to 847.

• Jose Bautista is en fuego! Another home run. That's five home runs in his past nine games. Who needs Pedro Alvarez?

8:15 p.m. -- Gorzelanny isn't pleasing the home fans. Yankee pitcher Darrell Rasner, who had never batted in the big leagues before, walked to open the third -- after Gorzelanny got ahead 0-2. More boos for the left-hander when Cabrera walked on four pitches. Jeter bounced back to Gorzelanny, who first looked to third base before throwing off-target to second. The Pirates got that out, but should have had a double play.

No matter. Gorzelanny got Bobby Abreu to bounce into a double play. Four walks for Gorzelanny so far but no runs allowed. How much longer can he escape?

• Weird. The Pirates have no walks so far but three runs. Baseball's a funny game, somebody once said. Yankees, however, aren't laughing at the moment.

• The Pirates' good start made me think about something former Yankee Doug Mientkiewicz said before the game. The Pirate standout utility player said when he was with the Yankees the opposing players "elevated" their game in games against the Yankees.

"You knew going through the tunnel (to the dugout) you were going to their 'A' game," Mientkiewicz said.

• With Robinson Cano at bat and Jorge Posada on second and two outs in the fourth, noted PG blogologist Gene Collier mused: "Can a guy pitch four shutout innings throwing 35 balls and 24 strikes (as Gorzelanny was doing)?"

The answer? No. Cano singled in Posada.

Gorzelanny continued to pitch dangerously. Justin Christian, who spent 5 1/2 seasons in the minor leagues, got his first major league hit. Then Gorzelanny incredibly walked Rasner again! What's up with this?

Another Gorzelanny reprieve, though. Cabrera bounced into a fielder's choice for the third out. No way Gorzelanny goes nine innings tonight. Or even seven.

7:32 p.m. -- It has begun.

• PNC Park is almost full already -- with lots of people standing on the left field rotunda.

Noticed a sizable number of people walking outside the stadium wearing Yankee shirts and New York caps. Seems as if a lot of have found their way into the park, too.

Great atmosphere at PNC. Huge crowd. Pressbox is full -- which hasn't happened here since the All-Star game in 2006. Makes me wonder what this place would be like if the Pirates played in a postseason.

Turns out the Yankees have not played in Pittsburgh since the 1960 World Series. They played the Pirates in an exhibition game at Forbes Field May 14, 1962. Tony Kubek, the Yankee shortstop in the seventh game in the 1960 World Series who had Bill Virdon's hard ground ball hit a pebble and smash into his throat in the eighth inning, didn't play in that game because of an Army Reserve commitment. But he remembers something about it. "Phil Linz (a Yankee infielder) suggested they put a brick at shortstop that day," Kubek said.

• First pitch from Tom Gorzelanny -- a called strike to Melky Cabrera.

• Pirate fans booed Derek Jeter and A-Rod when they came to bat in the first inning. Why? Because they're good? Because they make a lot of money? Makes me wonder if the Pirate fans would have booed Babe Ruth had he made this trip. Lou Gehrig? Joe DiMaggio? Mickey Mantle? Don't understand it.

• Good first inning for the Pirates with two runs. Freddy Sanchez singled in the first run and used aggressive baserunning to set up the second. He singled softly into short left field. When left fielder Justin Christian -- making his major league debut -- bobbled the ball for an instant, Sanchez continued to second, arriving safely only because Robinson Cano bobbled Christian's throw. Good daring hustle by Freddy.

7:01 p.m. -- Forgot to add this about the Maz first pitch. While he stood in front of the Pirate dugout, a fan held a banner that read: "Mazeroski 10-13-6-0 3:36 p.m. That was the date and time he hit the home run. Another neat thing. When Maz went to the mound, some of the Yankees clapped for him from their dugout.

6:55 p.m. -- Bill Mazeroski, whose ninth-inning home run won the 1960 World Series for the Pirates over the Yankees, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Perhaps this one -- of all the first pitches he's tossed over the years, was his most exciting.

"I'll tell you, Pittsburgh has gotten into this Yankee thing in a big way," Mazeroski said just before he went onto the field. "It's been 48 years since that happened. It's a good memory. Yeah, this probably is the most exciting (first pitch)."

Maz watched a video replay of his two-pitch at-bat against Yankee reliever Ralph Terry before stepping to the mound. Pretty cool.

Just before that, Chris Higbee, wearing a Pirate jersey with the sleeves cut off, presented a tremendous rendition of the national anthem on his violin.

• Ran into former Pirate CEO Kevin McClatchy before the game. He lobbied Major League Baseball for quite a while to get the Yankees to play at PNC Park. Finally, it's happening. The Pirates are the last team to get a Yankee visit during interleague play.