Hancock's death hits hard

NEW YORK -- The Yankee Stadium crowd reacted audibly twice as legendary PA announcer Bob Sheppard explained the reason for the moment of silence before the Red Sox-Yankees game yesterday. First, when he announced that Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock had died in an automobile accident in St. Louis just hours before. And again when he mentioned Hancock's age, 29.

Hancock had Red Sox ties. He was drafted by the Sox in the fifth round in 1998 out of Auburn University, and advanced through their system until he made his big league debut in 2002. His one start for the Sox came in Chicago Sept. 26 against the White Sox. That winter, he was part of the trade with the Phillies in which the Sox acquired Jeremy Giambi.

"I'm just buckled," said Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson, who had Hancock for two seasons in Double A Trenton, speaking by phone from his office in McCoy Stadium. "Kason Gabbard, who is pitching for us today, came into my office and said, 'You had Hancock, didn't you?' That's how I found out.

"I couldn't believe it. We're sitting here, [pitching coach] Mike Griffin and Ralph Treuel [minor league pitching coordinator], reflecting. I loved Josh. This really saddens me. He battled some adversity and was really developing when we traded him to the Phillies."

In Trenton on June 3, 2002, Hancock was hit in the face by a line drive struck by Reading's Ryan Chapman. He sustained two hairline fractures of the jaw, and a titanium plate was inserted when they reconstructed the area.

"One month later -- to the day -- this kid was back on the mound, pitching," said Johnson. "First batter he faced, a ball was hit through the box. He didn't even flinch. I turned to Griff and said, 'You gotta be kidding me.' He was one of the toughest people I've ever been around.

"I'm not sure if it's the right word, but he was charismatic -- he had a lot of character to him."

Hancock's weight became an issue when he was with Cincinnati, which released him early in spring training in 2006 when he reported 17 pounds overweight. But the Cardinals signed him three days later, and he became a useful member of their bullpen and was rewarded with a World Series ring at the end of the season.

The Red Sox released a statement expressing their sympathies to Hancock's family. The team also announced it planned to observe a moment of silence before tomorrow night's game against Oakland at Fenway Park.

"It was kind of shocking when I found out today," said first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who played with Hancock in Trenton and in the Arizona Fall League. "I'm still shocked right now. To all his family and friends out there, you just got to say a prayer for them and hope they'll be all right. The St. Louis Cardinals lost a good pitcher.

"The greatest thing is, he won a World Series before he died."

Manny Ramírez's home run and single enabled him to climb over the Mendoza Line -- barely -- as he improved his average to .202. But that still is his lowest average for any month since he began playing for the Red Sox in 2001, and his worst monthly average since he batted .132 in May 1994, his rookie season with the Indians. His previous low average with the Sox was .234, which he hit in August 2001 and again in May 2005. That doesn't include the .211 he hit in seven games (4 for 19) last September, when he was sidelined for most of the month with what the club described as patellar tendinitis.

Entering the day, Ramírez had considerable company among elite hitters who have struggled this month. Among those who also have been scuffling are: Carlos Delgado, Mets (.187), Gary Sheffield, Tigers (.190), Michael Young, Rangers (.202), and Paul Konerko, White Sox (.207).

Ramírez joined some elite company with the 50th home run of his career against the Bombers. The others are Jimmie Foxx (70), Ted Williams (62), Hank Greenberg (53), and Carl Yastrzemski (52), Hall of Famers all. Half of Ramírez's homers have come in Yankee Stadium, not far from the Washington Heights neighborhood where he grew up and is still revered.

Yesterday was only the second time in his big league career that Coco Crisp has been hit by a pitch, in 2,309 plate appearances. Crisp was hit in the left shin by Chien-Ming Wang in the fifth and scored ahead of Alex Cora's home run. Last season, he was hit by Mark Redman of the Royals July 19 . . . Derek Jeter's eighth-inning home run off Mike Timlin extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest active streak in the big leagues. He has hit safely in 56 of 58 games dating to last Aug. 20 . . . Bobby Abreu's single off Timlin ended an 0-for-19 slide, the longest of Abreu's career . . . Daisuke Matsuzaka altered his between-starts routine by having a bullpen session yesterday, two days after his previous start. He had been throwing his bullpen on his third day between starts . . . The last Red Sox game in which both starting No. 9 hitters hit home runs, as Cora and Doug Mientkiewicz did yesterday, was July 4, 2003, at Yankee Stadium. Jason Varitek hit two of Boston's seven home runs in a 10-3 win (Derek Lowe over David Wells). Karim Garcia hit a home run batting ninth for the Yankees.

Mientkiewicz, who upended Julian Tavarez in the fifth with a slide into the first base bag while trying to beat out a roller Tavarez gloved on the base line, took exception to second baseman Cora apparently upbraiding him after the play. "I went to make sure that Tavarez knew everything was OK and there was no problem," Mientkiewicz told a couple of reporters, including George King of the New York Post. "Then the peanut gallery stepped in. This is the same guy [Cora] that threw an elbow at me on the ground ball he hit to Jeter. And now he's telling me how to play the game right?" Mientkiewicz and Cora exchanged words.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.