Tewksbury recalls past game with Cards' Cherre

JUPITER, Fla. -- Bob Tewksbury, the Red Sox's psychologist, took his practice on the road Sunday and made the long trip from Fort Myers to the East Coast. A former Cardinals pitcher, Tewksbury bumped into C.J. Cherre, the Cardinals' longtime travel secretary and clubhouse manager, and a member of the unofficial Tewksbury fan club.

"Great guy, good pitcher," Cherre said. "Great guy to have on the mound if you were in a hurry. He didn't mess around on the mound. He got it, and he threw it. You always wanted Tewks starting on getaway day."

In his time with the Cardinals, Tewskbury may have prompted the late Jack Buck, the Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer, to reprise the wonderful line he introduced when Bob Gibson was pitching in the 60s: "He pitches like he's double-parked." Moreover, Tewksbury threw strikes at a stunning rate.

He and Cherre recalled a getaway game from 1990 that Tewksbury started against the Reds opposite Tom Browning, another fast worker, in Cincinnati.

"What did it go, an hour [and] 32?" Cherre said. Actually, the game ended in two hours flat with Tewksbury throwing a 74-pitch complete game. He allowed six hits, one a bases-empty home run by Chris Sabo, and walked none.

"He was too quick that day," Cherre said. "I went to Joe [Torre, the Cardinals' manager at the time] in the dugout around the seventh and said, 'Joe, our plane hasn't come in yet. Stall ... go out to mound, get into an argument.' Tewks was killing me."

Cherre was aware of Tewksbury's positiion with the Sox; nonetheless, he recalled his friend as a finesse pitcher.

"What are you doing, teaching these guys how not to break a pane of glass?" Cherre said.