Padres Preview: 4/23 Cesar Vargas makes his MLB debut

After a winning effort thanks to the efforts of Wil Myers and Andrew Cashner, the Padres will now have a new face on the mound tonight against the Cardinals: Cesar Vargas, formerly of the San Antonio Missions.

You may remember Cesar from his appearances in Spring Training, most notably during his Mexico City Series appearance in which he threw three shutout innings with 5 strikeouts. The 6'2, 220-pound right-hander currently boasts a 1.42 ERA over his 2 starts in San Antonio and a 3.07 ERA overall in his minor league career.

A snippet of Andy Green on Vargas:

"What he did down in Mexico was outstanding. His cutter plays uniquely; it's a pitch that obviously the Cardinals haven't seen before."

His counterpart for the Cardinals is Michael Wacha, who is clearly not suffering from the same problems currently stymieing rotation mate Adam Wainwright. With a 1-0 career record against San Diego, Wacha has currently only allowed one earned run over his last two starts. He won his last appearance at Petco last year with a 6 inning, one run on five hit effort. The Padres bats will have to step up to the challenge against Wacha: Matt Kemp and Derek Norris are the only players with hits against the Cardinals right-hander.

Fun Fact: The Puebla, Mexico-native Cesar Vargas has played stints of winter ball for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo.

Tonight's game starts at 5:40PM, so you'll actually be able to resume a normal sleep schedule.

Game time: 5:40PM Left Coast (Pacific) Time
Radio: The Mighty 1090, La Poderosa 860 (Spanish)
TV: FSSD, Fox Deportes San Diego (Spanish)