It’s a Day at Office for Dodgers: 9-5

This wouldn’t have happened--this couldn’t have happened--a few months ago, and the Dodgers won’t argue.

That bunch facing a big deficit? Forget it, because the Dodgers didn’t have the right stuff to overcome too much too fast. But that was before the Dodgers became what they are now: a complete team.

Showing again how far they have come, the new-look Dodgers overcame a five-run deficit to defeat the Florida Marlins, 9-5, Saturday afternoon before 45,814 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers’ largest comeback victory this season kept them two games ahead of San Francisco in the NL West, and kept Manager Bill Russell feeling good about his confident, determined team.

“This is really big,” Russell said. “Coming back against good teams and good pitching staffs like [Florida] gives you confidence. This shows you that you can do it again because you’ve done it before.”

The Dodgers did it Saturday by responding to a challenge the way a first-place team should.

Starter Chan Ho Park, whose confidence was admittedly shaken after giving up three home runs, left the game trailing, 5-0, after four innings. But the Dodgers stayed focused.

“We’re just a very confident group right now,” said second baseman and leadoff hitter Eric Young, whose three-run triple helped cut the Marlin lead to 5-4 in the fifth inning.

“We know we can score runs--and score runs in a lot of different ways.”

They did against the Marlins, scoring four runs in the fifth and eighth innings and one in the seventh. Third baseman Todd Zeile played a big role, hitting a one-out solo home run to center field against Marlin reliever Kurt Miller (0-1) to break a 5-5 tie in the eighth.

The home run was Zeile’s 25th, which tied his career high set last season while playing for Philadelphia and Baltimore. Zeile has reached base in nine consecutive at-bats and is six for six with three RBIs in the series.

“I think you have a heightened level of concentration and adrenaline when you’re fighting for a pennant in September,” said Zeile, who is batting .347 in his last 35 games. “It’s just fun to come to the ballpark every day.”

The bullpen was superb for the second consecutive game, pitching five scoreless innings, including one by winner Darren Hall (3-2). In nine innings this series, the Dodger bullpen has not given up a run. The Dodgers have taken the last two from the Marlins after beginning the series 1-6 against them.

“We’re a different team from the last time we faced them,” Russell said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in here now who can come through with big hits and drive in big runs. We have guys who know what the pressure of September is like. That’s why [Executive Vice President] Fred [Claire] went out and got the types of players he did.”

Center fielder Otis Nixon was one of Claire’s recent acquisitions, and Nixon came through again Saturday. In the seventh, Nixon singled to drive in Wilton Guerrero and tie the score, 5-5.

“Before [the trades], we were a team that played station-to-station ball, we just had to sit back and wait for the three-run homer,” Zeile said. “With guys like [Young] and [Nixon], we have guys who can set the table for me, Eric [Karros], Mike [Piazza] and [Raul Mondesi]. We can do more things.”

Park was pitching on 10 days’ rest and he wasn’t sharp. He gave up eight hits and five earned runs. Park said the rest helped, but it didn’t show.

“I felt much stronger, much better than my last couple of starts,” Park said. “I had a good fastball but my curve was not there. It was a good day for them and a bad day for me.”

“Maybe he had too much rest, but that remains to be seen,” Russell said. “If he had pitched well, everyone would have said the rest helped him. Chan Ho is OK, this was just one of those bad days that happens.”

But it ended well for the Dodgers.