Our First Finnish baseball game!

We got back a couple hours ago from our first Finnish baseball game. Apparently the women play better than the men (although men's games are generally faster) and it was very different than North American baseball. (not that we know a lot about that game either ) As well we saw the Jyv�skyl�n women's team win against the West coast team...

So here are some huge differences:

1. The bases are not in a diamond shape. It zig-zags from left to right to left then there is a long stretch from 3rd base to "home base".
2. The pitcher does not throw across towards the batter but stands beside them to toss the ball straight up in the air. No they do not get hit by the batter - they back away (I thought the same thing).
3. The ball is not white. It's the color of a tennis ball - bright yellow-green so the players can see it.
4. When the field team is trying to tag someone "out" by tossing the ball to the base the player is trying to run towards...they can continuously toss the ball between their team mates in hopes to trap the runner. This happened several times at many points in the game. It's completely random and isn't a 1 or 2 try thing...they can toss it (more like whip the ball) around a few times in hopes to get a player "out".
5. The coaches have some sort of long multi-colored fan...not sure if I got a photo of it. But the point of this long fan (like paint color test strips) depending on the position of it and the color order it's in (looks like a rainbow) - determines their tactics to their other players who are farther away. (And yelling would be a give-away)...
6. Whoever wins the most games per baseball season - has to go and jump into the duck pond down the road. As in they have to DIVE IN...nasty. No wonder our girls team has won so many times - nobody else wants to dive into a pond full of duck poo. That and they play really well!

V�in� had a great time and bounced A LOT whenever there was clapping or music. He also hit on our friend Heli while we watched the game, by rubbing her shoulder and staring at her open-mouthed in hopes for a kiss (smart boy eh?)!!! She was terrified I think...and probably will never have kids of her own.

During the break (1/2 way point of the game) the sponsors (some golf academy or course) - played a game on the baseball field. There were some numbers on the field and they had to mini-putt a ball to see who could get it out the farthest and into the "0"...