ARLINGTON -- Derek Jeter was not impressed.

Sure, he was curious to learn that his former teammate, Jeff Karstens, had just fired 7 2/3 perfect innings against the Diamondbacks before losing his perfect game in the eighth. But curiosity was his limit, and so Jeter just smiled and said, "Good for him."

Then he heard that Karstens had also rapped out two hits. Jeter broke into a grin.

"That a boy," he said. "That's more impressive."

Leave it to one of the game's greatest hitters to think like that. But plenty of Yankees were impressed with Karstens, one of the chips that landed them Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte prior to last week's Trade Deadline.

Karstens, coming off six shutout innings in his Pirates debut, was perfect Wednesday until Chris Young doubled off him with two outs in the eighth. He also singled twice and scored once in a 2-0 win.

A product of the Yankees farm system, Karstens made nine starts for them in the past two seasons. Yet injuries and ineffectiveness kept him from maintaining a role with the big league team.

Because the current Yankees -- Nady and Marte included -- had a late bus into Rangers Ballpark on Wednesday, most of them did not see any part of Karstens' near-perfect game. But that didn't stop them from being impressed.

"When players get traded, you hope they all do well," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Obviously, you would never want them to come back and hurt you in a game, but any other time you want them to do well."