Marlins Spoil Night to Honor Gwynn

Brian Meadows pitched 7 1/3 strong innings and drove in a run to lead the Florida Marlins to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday--their seventh consecutive victory--spoiling Tony Gwynn Night and sending the Padres to their seventh loss in a row.

Meadows (10-11) shut down Gwynn and the Padres as he gave up two runs--one earned--and five hits. Gwynn, who collected his 3,000th hit last week at Montreal, went hitless in three at-bats against Meadows with two groundouts and a pop-up. Gwynn, however, had a run-scoring single off Jesus Sanchez in the eighth inning for career hit 3,008, moving him into 20th place past Al Kaline.

Antonio Alfonseca pitched the ninth for his 11th save despite giving up an RBI single to Chris Gomez. Brian Boehringer (6-5) left the game after four innings because of a right-shoulder strain.

Among the highlights of the 55-minute pregame ceremony was the unveiling of a banner with a picture of Gwynn and the number 3,000. It joined banners of 21 other members of the 3,000-hit club that have hung since early in the season.

The Padres plan to hang a banner today to honor Wade Boggs, who collected his 3,000th hit Sunday against the Devil Rays at Tampa, Fla.

Gwynn also presented to Hall of Fame officials the bat, batting helmet, pants and shoes he used when he collected hit No. 3,000.

Nearly all of the living members of the 3,000-hit club congratulated Gwynn via video clips, among them Hall of Famer Ted Williams, the former Boston Red Sox great who has enjoyed a close relationship with Gwynn in recent years.

Entertainers Bill Cosby and Jay Leno, and broadcasters Vin Scully and Dick Enberg were also among those who sent congratulations to Gwynn by video clips.