Beer Leaguers: Berghoff Sundown Dark and Denard Span

On Friday, The Common Man was walking through the booze section of his local supermarket, when he spied a cheap beer with a sharp looking label. At less than a dollar per bottle, The Common Man was pretty sure that he was about to get hosed, particularly as he had not heard anything exciting about this brew, but figured to try it anyway. And that, dear friends, is the moment that Berghoff Sundown Dark entered TCM’s life. The six pack is long gone now, the bottles tossed into the recycling bin. But the flavor and the crispness are still with The Common Man. The Sundown Dark comes on full and malty, with a sweet dark taste, perhaps with a hint of molasses. It is rich and satisfying, particularly out of the bottle, but not overpowering. The Common Man was genuinely surprised by how much he liked it. And he wants more.

Similarly, when the Twins promoted Denard Span in 2008, The Common Man wasn’t sure what to make of him. Span had been taken in the first round of the 2004 draft, and was projected to move as a Kenny Lofton-esque leadoff hitter. He did not project to hit for power, but looked like a baseball player at 6’, 200 lbs. After some high-OBP, low SLG success in the low minors, Span seemed to stall at AA in 2006. Despite struggling at New Britain, Span was promoted the next year to AAA Rochester, where his walk rate continued to suffer, and his strikeout rate ramped up. Plus, the Twins’ supposed leadoff man of the future had been caught 14 times in 39 attempts to steal. It was looking more and more like Denard Span was going to wash out.

When Michael Cuddyer suffered a hand injury, Span made his debut in rightfield. His performance was not encouraging. Through April 24, he was hitting .258/.324/.258 and the Twins were scuffling out of the gate. Span was sent down, where something clicked. He not only rediscovered his hitting stroke (batting .340 in 156 ABs), but found his batting eye (26 BB in 184 PAs) and power as well (.481 SLG). When Cuddyer went down again at the end of June, Span was recalled and continued his hot hitting. From June 30 on, Denard Span played in every single game and hit .297/.393/.449 and stole 15 bases in 22 attempts. On July 22, Span became the team’s leadoff hitter, and hasn’t given it up since.

When Span was called up, The Common Man didn’t know what to make of him. TCM remembers Aaron Gleeman’s frustration both with Span’s lack of development and at the decision to call him up and start him in rightfield, and TCM remember agreeing with him. Hell, Gleeman didn’t even include Span in his list of the Twins’ top 40 prospects before 2008. And indeed, Span looked lost when he first got to the major leagues. But in the two years since his coming out party, Span has been terrific, posting a strong batting average, a good walk rate, and adequate speed on the bases. This year, while his batting average has suffered, he has maintained his solid BB rate, sees just as many pitches per at bat, and has stolen 14 bags while only being caught once.

In addition, Denard Span plays baseball hard. It’s common for announcers and pundits to praise “hard-nosed” and “gritty” players like Nick Punto (who is, oh hey, white!), but they rarely mention Span, who worked hard to make himself into a productive hitter, hustles on the field and on the bases, and plays with a strong competitive instinct. While that kind of attitude may or may not help the team in a measurable way, it’s endearing to a fanbase that has come to appreciate their leadoff man.


Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau may be the golden boys in the Twin Cities these days. They certainly look good, and play well, and cost the team a pretty penny. But the modest, engaging, and inexpensive ($750,000 this year, 5 years/$16.5 million with a club option) young center fielder is quickly becoming a new favorite around town. He certainly surprised The Common Man, even more so than a certain dark brown ale that TCM is craving right now.

Dead Snow, Live Links

It’s a relatively slow Monday on the baseball front. A lot of games were rained out at the end of last week and no one has said anything so blatantly stupid that The Common Man needs to comment on it. Instead, The Common Man takes the lazy way out. After a one-sentence movie review, TCM dumps some links.

Last night, while waiting for The Uncommon Wife to finish with some work so they could finally watch Lost, The Common Man streamed the Norwegian horror-comedy Dead Snow on Netflix. The review: Dead Snow gleefully works out the remaining angst Norwegians feel about their occupation during WWII by pitting Nazi Zombies (or Zombie Nazis) against young people in a secluded cabin in the mountains; fans of gore, snowmobile-related dismembering, and general hilarity will appreciate this celluloid therapy session, as the humor lands consistently despite the subtitles.

As a special bonus, here is what The Common Man tweeted during the film, a new feature of TCM.com he calls Mystery Science Tweeter 3000 (Snark in 140 characters or less):

Should I make a movie about zombies or Nazis? Why not both? Hurray for Dead Snow! The best Nazi Zombie movie Norway has to offer.

Which is more correct Zombie Nazis or Nazi Zombies?

70 years later, the Norwegians are finally fighting the Nazi occupation.

This movie must have been so cathartic for Norwegians.

What did @Ebertchicago think of Dead Snow?

Lesson learned: Never sneak up on a guy when he's hacking the shit out of a platoon of Nazi Zombies (or Zombie Nazis, which do they prefer?)

Good God, how many Zombie Nazis are there in Norway? Can't frickin walk to the bathroom without tripping over one.

Zombie Nazis: All they want is their gold. They're like Zombie Pirates that way. And Leprechauns.

Look, TCM doesn't want to question the logic of a movie that is based on the premise that Zombie Nazis walk among us...

but who hides the zombie gold in a cabin in the Norwegian woods anyway? Why didn't the zombies just keep it? TCM is confused.

Now, on to the linky goodness:

TCM is embarrassed he didn’t know that yesterday was Kirby Puckett’s 50th birthday. Like Friend of the Blog, Bill at The Daily Something, The Common Man’s favorite player of all time is undoubtedly Puckett, despite the unfortunateness that plagued his final years. Bill has a terrific, and fair, retrospective of Kirby’s career up. Shocking question: Has it really been 15 years since Puckett played his final game?

Lar at Wezen-ball has a repost up today from last year’s Pi-Day festivities. It’s fun to see, but not nearly as interesting as his long, engaging, and impressive history of the batting helmet. Not even The Common Man knew that batting helmets were so interesting.

Historian Adrian Burgos Jr. guest-posted on JoePos’s essential blog last week on some context behind Torii Hunter’s idiotic statements last week. Burgos writes that “there is a long history of black Latinos experiencing racism and discrimination in U.S. professional baseball,” and reminds us that Minnie Minoso, Vic Power, Martin Dihigo, and the first Ozzie Virgil endured great injustice in their effort to just play baseball. But the experiences of black Latinos has been largely invisible in the history of baseball’s race relations, largely because their history doesn’t easily fit into the larger narrative of Americans’ struggle for racial equality and we, as a people, are less familiar with it. As Burgos reminds us, “The national pastime has become predominantly a middle-class sport. And that is a discussion from which Latinos ought not to be shut out of.”

Unlike Aaron Gleeman, The Common Man is bullish on both the signings of Denard Span (5 years, $16 million + $9 million option) and Nick Blackburn (4 years, $14 million + $8 million option). Span’s contract figures to be a terrific deal for the Twins, and even may end up being a highly tradable commodity if the team comes up with some additional impact outfielders down the line (five years is a long time). Blackburn’s deal is a little less team-friendly, as he is averaging just slightly more money than Span and pitchers have a higher collapse rate than hitters. Still, Blackburn has been incredibly consistent over the last two years, and even at $6-8 million he’ll be below market for an average pitcher. Barring a ridiculous collapse, Blackburn figures to earn his money. Again, if the Twins continue to develop mid-rotation starters, and Blackburn holds his value, this is an entirely dealable player and contract when the team is looking to upgrade elsewhere. And anything the team can do to demonstrate to Joe Mauer that it's looking to compete for the long term, and encourage him to sign up, is good in TCM's book.

And finally, The Common Man considers himself a huge baseball and Twins fan, and will eventually need to go in for a bit of knee surgery at some point in the future. All of which is why TCM is so disappointed he didn’t think of this first. To think, while he was under, the doctors could help TCM contribute to Joe Nathan’s recovery and success. Kudos to John McDonald of Very Well Then for thinking of the team first. (h/t to Howard Sinker)