Fundamentals: Tempo of the game
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| Perttu Ruuska spent the 2020 season developing his game management skills |
What is meant by the tempo of the game?
When you watch Pesis there is often a lot going on that doesn’t stand out immediately, especially if you are be to the game; however one thing that players and coaches talk about a lot is how to control the tempo of the game (especially pitchers).
The easiest way to imagine this is to draw a direct example with American Football - the quarterback controls the tempo of the game and will either take a quick snap or take some time to adjust to the opposing team’s defence, in doing so the quarterback hopes to out play the opposing defence. The same is true in pesäpallo, but it is the pitcher who takes on the quarterback role and the batting/running team they are attempting to beat.
If you are coming from baseball background, this can seem a little different to what your re used to; in baseball, pitch selection and location are the key tools to try and defeat the batter, not how much time the pitcher takes between pitches. In cricket, there is actually some similarity; having played for a local club in my youth and my Father playing weekly during every summer I have been alive, you start to notice the more subtle elements of tempo in cricket.
In cricket, the tempo is controlled by the bowler (much like the pitcher in pesis), often in conjunction with the wicket keeper and to some extent the captain. After the bowler has bowled a delivery, the ball is passed from fielder to fielder to make its way back to the bowler for the next delivery. This can often be very swift or a more leisurely pace, but is always by design and not simply by accident. If a bowler has a batter in a panic, they will want to get the ball back s soon as possible to try and deliver another ball (possibly in the same way) to try and take a wicket; if a batter has got into a good rhythm and is scoring runs with ease, the bowler may want to take their time between deliveries and adjust the fielders positions, make adjustments to their run-up or simply try and upset the batter’s rhythm by delaying the next delivery. The delays I am talking about are no more than a few seconds here and there, but the impact can be significant.
The game manager, pitcher and batter’s view
Tempo in pesis
The cricket example above is very much aligned to how tempo is important in pesis; however it is not simply the batter the pitcher is trying to beat, but also the runners an (perhaps more importantly) the opposing game manager. The pitcher has a unique perspective of the game, being situated next to the batter and being able to see where the batter sees gaps in the fielding positions. The pitcher also has the same view of the runners as the batter and is able to spot when they are showing signs of advancing.
The pitcher has ultimate control over when they pitch the ball, with notable exceptions within the rules. The most obvious is the “right to pitch”. The right to pitch is where the pitcher must throw the ball to a fielder and receive it back before the next pitch is taken - this avoids the pitcher being allowed to pitch the ball too quickly when a new batter comes to the plate and is unable to take a fair attempt at hitting they ball.
A big difference to baseball (and indeed cricket) is the type of pitch a pitcher can use to try and defeat the batting team. In baseball and cricket, the speed of the ball and movement of the ball are fundamental and there are a lot of options to choose from. In pesäpallo, the options for a pitcher are very limited, but still very important. In order to gain some meaningful control over the game therefore, the tempo becomes even more important as well as the technical aspects of pitching the ball.
What to look for
Being able to control how quickly the ball is pitched means that the pitcher has the ability to allow shifts in fielding positions, allow fielders to settle etc. but also can it runners out of position (especially if they hadn’t made it back to their base after a foul hit), rushing hitters to adapt to a change in fielding positions as well as many other elements. When you watch a game next, see how quickly or slowly the pitcher takes between pitches - did they rush the pitch? Or did they take their time? Did they pass the ball to several fielders several times before the next pitch? What was the outcome? When you start to ask these questions, you will start to understand how fundamental it is as a pitcher to be able to control the game and try and defeat the opposing game manager’s tactics.
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