This Dodgers W is a size-XL

ATLANTA — Grady Little has a small wall calendar in which he keeps track of every Dodgers game, scribbling in a blue-ink W for every one they win and an L for every loss.

He might want to circle the W he wrote in the box for May 5. Because if it’s possible for one win to be worth more than a game in the standings, the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday might turn out to be just such a W.

Not only did it come at the expense of Tim Hudson, who hadn’t lost since September -- and had never lost to the Dodgers -- but it came behind the brilliant three-hit pitching of Derek Lowe, who hadn’t won in more than three weeks.

And on offense the Dodgers got a pinch-hit home run from slumping Wilson Betemit, his first of the season, and a three-hit game from Rafael Furcal, his first of the season, to score six runs in a game for only the second time in two weeks.

Add it all up and it could prove to be the kind of game that turns a good season into a memorable one.

“Sometimes you just need a little spark to get a team going.... We’ve just got to use the positive and bring it into [today’s] game,” catcher Russell Martin said.

“This,” outfielder Luis Gonzalez added, “is a good win for us.”

The lackluster offense, shut out by John Smoltz on Friday, finally came to life in the fourth inning when consecutive singles by Furcal, Juan Pierre and Nomar Garciaparra produced a run. And when Pierre moved to third on an out and came home on a fielder’s choice, it marked the first time the Dodgers had scored twice in the same at-bat in 52 innings.

Betemit would account for the next run with a long eighth-inning homer off Hudson (3-1), ending the pitcher’s 47-inning homer-less streak and giving the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.

“I just tried to hit the ball hard,” said Betemit, who was benched after his average dropped to .125 when he went 0 for 3 Friday. “... Yesterday I swung at a lot of bad pitches. I know I have to wait for my pitch.”

The Dodgers weren’t done either, pounding a trio of Braves pitchers in the ninth for the three runs that proved to be the margin of victory. That, too, was a milestone; they’d scored as many as three runs in a game only once in the previous week.

With Lowe (3-3) on the mound, it was an abundance of riches. Throwing an exceptional sinker to both sides of the plate, the right-hander held the Braves to one unearned run and three hits -- two of them by journeyman outfielder Willie Harris -- over seven innings and struck out a season-high eight in his best outing this year.

“He worked a gem of a game,” said Little, the Dodgers manager. “It was pleasant to see him get what he deserved. The struggles he’s had in the month of April ... it [the turnaround] came at a good time for us.”

Lost amid the first-place Dodgers’ recent struggles is the fact that Saturday’s win was their fifth in eight games, leaving them with the third-largest division lead in baseball, 1 1/2 games over San Francisco in the NL West.

“As players, you’ve got to remind yourself it’s a long season. And you’re never as bad as you think you are and you’re never as good as you think you are,” Lowe said. “Maybe you hit a little bump in the road, [but] you wake up and you’re still a first-place team. Hopefully this is the game that will give us some confidence.”

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