The Yankees get a hit 27 percent of the time. During the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth inning, they had a hit 62.3 percent of the time.
By going 15-for-23 in those innings, the Yankees actually topped themselves by hitting grand slams. When Russell Martin hit the second grand slam, the Yankees were in the process of announcing the last time two had been hit in the same game.
That actually was a game I remember. It was September 14, 1999 in Toronto in the eighth and ninth when Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill pulled it off in rallying the Yankees from five runs down for a 10-6 victory.
The other time that happened was June 29, 1987 at Toronto. Dave Winfield hit a grand slam off Tom Henke for the go-ahead runs in a 15-14 victory and Don Mattingly hit one off John Cerutti in the third.
Before that, Tony Lazzeri hit two off a pitcher named Woody Upchurch at Shibe Park on May 24, 1936. The only difference was that game in Philadelphia was a 25-2 win. That was Lazzeri's famous 11 RBI game and the last four innings of Upchurch's career.
That was irrelevant until Curtis Granderson hit the third grand slam, which also was his 36th home run and pushed him from 99 to 103 RBI.
Nobody knew it until the scoreboard flashed the fact. And when they discussed it they truly were amazed at their accomplishment. Many times, players feign interest but afterwards, their interest was authentic.
"The fact that we as a team have done something that all the teams that have played this game have never done before, especially on the offensive side, that’s pretty neat," Granderson said. "The guys on this team have been doing an amazing job. I think it speaks again to what this offense can do. Anyone and everyone can deliver at any time."
And it was, it was the classic five'o clock lightning in the style of the 1927 Yankees. Those Yankees scored 20 runs once but had this habit of scoring late in the afternoon.
Chances are the Yankees literally achieved the same thing. The game started at 2:34 and did not end 7:05, which would have put some of historic display between five and six.
In terms of comebacks, remember the Yankees were down 7-1 going into the fifth. Their comeback was the biggest since the 14-13 game against Texas won by Jorge Posada home run in the ninth inning on May 16, 2006.
That night Russell Martin was 10 games into his major league career with the Dodgers with two multi-hit games under his belt. He was about a month shy of the first of his three games with four RBI and that would represent his career high until Martin hit the grand slam.
The grand slam was part of Martin's 5-for-5 day, that spiked his batting average from .232 to .243. It also was the first time a Yankee catcher went 5-for-6 since Elston Howard.
Howard did it on April 18, 1959 at Fenway Park in a 16-7 win.
His day consisted of a base hit off Canadian Ted Bowsfield, who had won three times against the 1958 Yankees. It also consisted of a base hit off Dave Sisler, who father George had five games with at least five hit, with three occuring during August 1921.
Howard's day also consisted off two base hits off Bill Monboquette, who coached the Yankees in the mid-1980s. His fifth hit occurred off Leo Kiely.
You get the idea and the kicker is that since the All-Star break, the Yankees have had three wins with at least 15 runs and neither starting pitcher has gotten a win. Twice it was Phil Hughes, who had pitched in games that Yankees scored 39 runs for him but lasted 6 2/3 innings combined. The other was A.J. Burnett's infamous game in Chicago when he was armed with a 13-1 lead.
Bottom line is that the Yankees had a really good round of batting practice, at least when they saw strikes. When they didn't they drew 13 walks, which for anyone is insane.
Like the players said, you probably won't see it again. It's like that Seinfeld episode that involves this exchange between Kramer and O'Neill:
KRAMER: Sure, well I promised you would hit him two home runs.
O'NEILL: Say what?
KRAMER: You know, Klick!. A couple of dingers.
O'NEILL: You promised a kid in the hospital that I would hit two home runs?
KRAMER: Yeah, well, no good?
O'NEILL: Yeah. That's no good. It's terrible. You don't hit home runs like that. It's hard to hit home runs. And where the heck did you get two from?
KRAMER: Well Two is better than one.
And in the Yankees' case, three grand slams were better than two.