The Dodgers went to Australia and took care of business. They posed with koala bears and kangaroos, took note of the famous opera house, and did their singing at the Sydney Cricket Ground, winning both games of their season-opening series with Arizona, by scores of 3-1 and 7-5, with little overdrive required.

The teams did their chamber-of-commerce best to represent Major League Baseball as an international product in the process, which is really all the week-long journey was about. Business. And it would be silly for anyone to suggest otherwise.

But nobody wrecked a knee tripping over a sprinkler on a field built for another sport, jet-lag is a temporary condition, and Los Angeles gets to be undefeated for at least the first eight days of the 2014 season.
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The Dodgers won the way you'd expect them to win, with fine starting pitching from Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu, steady-enough relief work, the first home run of the year courtesy of Scott Van Slyke, who also doubled, and a couple of gaffes in the field and on the bases. No dingo, no foul.

With the 30 hours and 15,000 miles of travel to and from Sydney behind them, the Dodgers are off until the Freeway Series with the Angels, playing Thursday and Friday at Chavez Ravine and Saturday in Anaheim. Then it's down to San Diego for what amounts to L.A.'s second of three openers, Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN versus the Padres.

After three at Petco Park, Angelinos finally get to celebrate an Opening Day of their own, as it should be, with the Dodgers and the Giants, Friday, April 5 at 1:10 p.m. It's a sellout, but hopefully not a blackout too.

At this writing, and with the exception of a two upstart and limited cable outfits, the club's new SportsNet L.A. channel is available only to Time Warner Cable customers. Look for someone to blink as the week progresses, with one or more cable or dish operators signing on to the service. If not, and you don't have TWC, you can always get in with the right bunch of fellows at KLAC 570 AM and the Dodgers radio network: Vin Scully, Charley Steiner and Rick Monday.

See also: Four Workarounds for Fans Who Don't Have the Dodgers New TV Channel

And remember, glove conquers all.

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