We've got DOUBLE the Padres baseball today! HOORAY!

Jeff Suppan will lead the split squad against the Rangers, but the big story in that game is the Texas debut of Yu Darvish. It's like a huge deal. Reportedly over a hundred media personnel will be swarming Peoria Sports Complex and somewhere Dex is wishing he had a change of pants. It'll be hard to match the hype of that pitching matchup, but the Padres will send Suppan and Joe Wieland to the plate for two innings each, followed by single innings from Huston Street, Luke Gregerson, Joe Thatcher, Alex Hinshaw, and Nick Vincent.

Padres home vs. TEX and Yu Darvish: Maybin 8, Hudson 4, Guzman 3, Quentin 7, Venable 9, Kotsay DH, Darnell 5, Baker 2, Cabrera 6, Suppan 1

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 7, 2012

The Padres will also play the Reds at Goodyear Stadium. We will get a pair of innings each from Cory Luebke and Casey Kelly and an inning each from Andrew Cashner, Erik Hamren, Dale Thayer, Cory Burns, and Matt Palmer.

Padres lineup at CIN today: Decker 8, Hermida 9, Alonso 3, Blanks 7, Hundley 2, Grandal DH, Gyorko 5, Valdez, 6, Parrino 4, Luebke 1

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 7, 2012

Personally, of the two matchups, I am more interested for the latter ("But Everth is starting against Texas!" I KNOW, OKAY?). I'm excited to see Casey Kelly on the mound. The Padres coaching staff has been working with him to improve his approach against batters and become more consistent on the mound. They moved him to the left side of the rubber in hopes of making his delivery more deceptive and have also had him try to work faster and increase the use of his legs. I'm also excited to see if Cashner will continue to throw crazy heat after his Padres debut on Sunday.

Both games start at 12, but only the game against Texas will be broadcast (Padres website says ESPN 1700, but Corey Brock says XX 1090), so we'll have to follow the Cincy game on gameday or something. Here's hoping for some good pitching, no more errors, wet pants, and our first win (or two?) of Spring Training. Oh, and also some more fun rapport between Uncle Teddy and Scan, with the Colonel mixed in.

GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!