LOS ANGELES _ Well, wow, that was hot.
In their first World Series game in 29 years Tuesday night, the Dodgers put the Houston Astros through various stages of blistering before finally settling for a scorching 3-1 victory at, yes, overheated Dodger Stadium.
In the beginning, it was simply hot, the hottest game in World Series history, 103 degrees at the first pitch.
Then it became heater hot, Clayton Kershaw winging it with his postseason best, striking out 11 in seven innings with one allowed run.
Then, it was red hot, Justin Turner doing it again, the Dodgers' auburn-maned Muppet hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning, his second tiebreaking blast in consecutive home playoff games.
The Dodgers are now 8-1 in this postseason, with their one loss by a single run in Chicago, and it seems nothing can stop them.
Dallas Keuchel, the Astros' Cy Young-winning starting pitcher? Chris Taylor hit a leadoff home run against him on the game's first pitch.
The fear that Turner, having skipped the last three days of batting practice, was finally wearing down? He followed a Taylor walk by turning on a two-strike Keuchel pitch with a drive that sneaked over the left-field fence to make Dodger Stadium shake as it did after his walk-off homer against the Cubs last week.
The notion that Kershaw has not conquered his past postseason demons? C'mon, enough already, they're long gone, with Kershaw turning his first World Series start into a personal masterpiece that even included surviving his nemesis seventh inning.
They will play Game 2 on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium and, though the series has just begun, this already feels a bit like a must-win for the Astros, who will send another Cy Young Award winner to the mound in Justin Verlander.
The rest of their rotation isn't nearly as strong, while the Dodgers rotation just gets deeper and deeper, as they will counter with high-kicking curveballer Rich Hill.
Stay tuned. If you can allow us one more heat metaphor, the Dodgers temperature is still rising.
