Beyond the differences in payroll, star power and experience, the Orioles' rivalry with the New York Yankees has become a battle of little ball vs. big ball.

Last night, little ball won again.

With the score tied in the seventh inning, Orioles manager Mike Hargrove called for the suicide squeeze. Brian Roberts broke for home, and Jerry Hairston dropped a bunt between first base and the pitcher's mound, scoring Roberts uncontested with the go-ahead run.

The Yankees put the tying run on third base in the ninth, but Jorge Julio retired Jason Giambi for the game's final out, and the Orioles claimed a 4-3 victory before 41,583 at Camden Yards.

"That's how we have to play right now to win," Roberts said, as the Orioles celebrated their third consecutive win. "I think it drives other teams crazy. The Yankees are more of a team that sits back and waits for a home run. That's their thing, and we're not really able to do that as much as they are."

The Yankees have reassumed their mantle as the Bronx Bombers this season. Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter hit home runs last night, raising the team's season total to 118. No one else in baseball has close to that many. The Orioles have 76.

But the Orioles are carving their own niche with good pitching, solid defense and an offense that has been fairly fundamentally sound - especially considering their youth.

There's no shame using little ball when you're 5-5 against the Yankees, a team that has won four straight American League pennants. The Orioles went 5-7 against the Yankees in 2000 and 5-13 last season, when baseball switched back to an unbalanced schedule.

"We were never intimidated," Hairston said. "They're just a good team."

Hargrove told Hairston to be ready for the suicide squeeze while the Yankees made a pitching change just prior to his at-bat. Ramiro Mendoza relieved Andy Pettitte, and with a 1-1 count, Hargrove followed through with his plan.

On April 19, the Orioles successfully executed the squeeze in the 14th inning to defeat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. That time, Brook Fordyce put down the bunt, and Tony Batista scored from third.

Hargrove almost never used the play when managing the homer-happy Cleveland Indians. "I don't know of a play in baseball," he said, "that makes me more nervous than the suicide squeeze."

These Orioles are a different team.

"We didn't have to squeeze over there [in Cleveland]," Hargrove said. "We had mashers over there, one through nine [in the batting order]. I tried to manage to the talent we have, and these guys have done a good job."

Beyond executing the squeeze, the Orioles went error-free for the third consecutive game. Shortstop Mike Bordick extended his own errorless streak to 57 games, making a key play in the ninth.

Jeter hit a grounder to Bordick, and Soriano ran from second to third. Bordick thought he had a play on Soriano, but double-clutched, and his throw to first narrowly beat Jeter for the second out.

Giambi followed with a grounder to second, giving Julio his 16th save.

Willis Roberts (4-2) earned the victory, and Yankees starter Andy Pettitte (1-2) took the loss. Marty Cordova paced the Orioles' offense with three hits, including run-scoring singles in the first and third innings.

With a game-time temperature of 97 degrees, Orioles starting pitcher Sidney Ponson kept wiping the sweat as he labored through the evening. The Yankees had at least one runner reach base in each of his six innings. Ponson needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning and was at 107 pitches after six, when Hargrove went to his bullpen.

"I can't say enough about Sidney Ponson tonight," Hargrove said. "Here's a guy who had no command of anything. His breaking balls were up, his fastballs were up, but he found a way and he battled. If we had seen Sidney in that same situation last year, or a couple years ago, Sidney would have given up 10 runs and been gone by the second inning."

Ponson allowed three earned runs, and by definition it was a quality start - six innings or more, three earned runs or less. He has 10 quality starts in his past 13 games, but is a hard-luck 0-1 with a 2.56 ERA during June.

"From the get-go, I knew I had nothing," Ponson said. "I'm just happy we won the game."