NEW YORK -- Entering Tuesday's action, five of the Yankees' past six victories had been of the comeback variety, showing some grittiness by the Bronx Bombers.

Tuesday, the Yanks didn't need to mount a thrilling comeback to defeat the Orioles, taking the drama out of the game early. New York trounced Baltimore, 12-3, sweeping the abbreviated two-game series between the two clubs at Yankee Stadium.

"These games are a lot better for you, mentally," said Derek Jeter.

Randy Johnson, pitching on three days' rest, tossed seven strong innings, allowing his offense to go to work for him.

And go to work it did.

Jason Giambi went 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and two RBIs, sparking the Yankees' offense, which tallied 17 hits on the day. Five different players had at least two hits.

"He's very confident," said Alex Rodriguez of Giambi. "His bat is flying through the zone. For us, he's a major piece of our puzzle if he's swinging the way he is right now."

A-Rod, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui also went deep for New York, which won for the sixth time in its past eight games, pulling within a half-game of second-place Baltimore.

"We're lucky; we understand that hovering around the .500 mark in some other division may not bode well for you," said manager Joe Torre. "To be where we are right now, we're very fortunate. Hopefully, we're starting something that can continue for a while."

Giambi, fresh off his first multi-homer game in almost two years, got the Yankees started in the second, drilling a solo shot off Rodrigo Lopez to put New York on top, 1-0.

Johnson looked sharp early on, retiring the side in order in each of the first three innings, striking out one in each frame.

"The way Randy pitched in the first couple of innings, I thought it set the tone," Torre said. "He was very aggressive. He looked like he was very focused on what he wanted to do."

The Bombers broke it open in the third, plating five unearned runs with the help of two Baltimore errors. Jeter scored from third despite being caught in a run-down, as Melvin Mora couldn't handle Sal Fasano's throw.

Chris Gomez committed another error, and Lopez couldn't work his way out of the inning, giving up an RBI single to Matsui, an RBI double to Giambi and a two-run single to Ruben Sierra.

"As good as our offense is," said A-Rod, "we should have the mentality that we want to go out and score six runs each night, regardless of who is pitching and who isn't."

New York continued to pour it on in the fourth, when Lopez allowed a single by Jeter and a double by Robinson Cano, setting up Sheffield's three-run blast. A-Rod followed with a solo shot, his 21st of the season, as the Yankees took a commanding 10-0 lead.

Lopez was charged with 10 runs (five earned) on 11 hits in three-plus innings. He struck out four, falling to 7-5 on the season.

While the Yankees' bats were going off, the O's couldn't do much against the Unit, who retired the first 12 batters of the game. Miguel Tejada hit a slow roller toward Jeter, who fielded it and fired it by Giambi at first. The ball was ruled a base hit, breaking up Johnson's no-hitter and eliciting a smattering of boos from the crowd of 55,276, hoping to witness history.

Johnson, who was tagged for seven runs in five innings in his start on Friday in Detroit, looked like the dominant pitcher who has won five Cy Youngs, shutting the O's out over the first five innings.

"We got a lot of runs, which was encouraging," Johnson said. "I went out there, I felt good, and my location was much better, which goes without saying. I worked both sides of the plate."

Gomez broke up the shutout in the sixth with a two-run homer, his first of the year. Johnson has allowed 19 homers, one more than all of last season.

"I made a bad pitch to Gomez," Johnson said. "I thought I could go one game without giving up a home run. At this pace, I'm probably going to break [Barry] Bonds' record."

Through his seven innings, Johnson held the O's to two runs on seven hits, striking out eight.

"On three days' rest, I think we have to be ecstatic," said catcher John Flaherty. "I think sometimes we look for maybe a little too much from Randy. He came back on three days' rest today and gave us seven strong innings."

"I had a little fun out there," Johnson said. "I think we all did."