Summer heats up dairy breakfasts, Brewers’ bats

How are we already at the end of June? It seems like it just started, and yet, here we are.

I suppose a couple weeks of rain will tend to take the wind out of the sails of summer. However, the season was finally in full force this weekend, with temperatures reaching the 90s and a good bit of humidity to boot.

Despite the heat, weekend events continued regardless. I swung by the Colby Dairy Breakfast on Sunday to get some pictures and was impressed with the turnout despite the conditions. As someone who hasn’t been to a dairy breakfast before this year (alright, alright put down the pitchforks), I confess I didn’t truly realize how big these events are. This past weekend’s event and the Abbotsford Dairy Breakfast earlier in the month opened my eyes a bit to that fact. I think in our history corner section it said that in 2000, the Colby Dairy Breakfast had 1,150 attendees and this weekend, again, despite the sweltering temperatures, there were nearly 1,900 people served, which shows that these events are just as well supported as ever. Having nearly the entire population of Colby going through in a couple hours is kind of crazy when you think about it.

A special shoutout to all the volunteers who made such an event possible, especially those that were sitting in front of hot grills all morning. I was melting in just the hour or so I was there taking pictures, so I can only imagine what it was like flipping sausages or pancakes for that long.

Baseball also went on, and while the Brewers were on the road, they weren’t far away. The Crew was lined up against the Twins in Minneapolis for their weekend series, meaning they were dealing with the same heat wave we had here in central Wisconsin.

That didn’t seem to bother them at all, as the Brewers’ bats have seemingly warmed up with the temperatures.

After hanging 17 runs on Minnesota in the first game of the series, Milwaukee scored nine runs in both the second and third games, completing a three-game sweep of our American League rivals. This after scoring eight runs in a win over the Cubs last Thursday. And while the streak was broken with just four runs against the Pirates on Monday, the Brewers got things rolling again in a 9-3 win over Pittsburgh last night.

All of this scoring is a welcome development for a lineup that struggled a good bit in the first two months of the season. Christian Yelich in particular has really come on strong in June, batting .362 and having an OPS over 1.000. Translation for those who don’t speak baseball; that’s very good.

But Yelich isn’t the only player in Milwaukee’s lineup to have picked up their production. Sal Frelick and Brice Turang continue to be hit machines, Jackson Chourio has been solid, and Caleb Durbin and Isaac Collins have been pleasant surprises. Collins in particular has had an impressive June, putting up stats on par with Yelich. Joey Ortiz is working himself out of a two-month slump to start the season as well. The only Brewers who maybe aren’t hitting as well right now are Rhys Hoskins and William Contreras, but given Hoskins carried the lineup through April and May and Contreras has been a plus-defensive catcher, I think both can be given a pass.

A handful of young starting pitchers have kept the Brewers in contention after the rotation was hit with a ton of injuries to start the season. Veteran Freddy Peralta has pitched well, but Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, Logan Henderson and now Jacob Misioroski have done a good job holding down the fort. Jose Quintana has been a solid pick-up for the Brewers as well. The back end of the bullpen trio of Nick Mears, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill have kept up Milwaukee’s relief pitching dominance.

All in all, things are starting to shape up for the Crew. After dropping to 25-28 after a loss to the Pirates on May 24, they have gone 19-8 in the last month, rocketing them to eight games above .500 and 2.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central.

So while it took a while to get here, it’s finally starting to feel like summer, and I’m definitely here for it.

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW