Roy Halladay

With only 11 days until pitchers and catchers report to camp, many baseball fanatics are ready to start the season. The National League East has been a very interesting race the past four seasons. In 2007, the Mets blew a huge lead in the division to the Phillies. In 2008, it was yet again the Mets blowing a late season lead to the Phillies. The past two years, it has been all Phillies winning the division by five games in 2009, and six games in 2010. Here's how the division will unfold in 2011.

MLB/Phillies Countdown: 11 (Frigid) Days Until Pitchers and Catchers Report

To Phillies fans stuck in and around the improbably frozen tundra of the City of Brotherly Love, any warm glow emanating from baseball's hot stove is a most welcome thing.

On Monday night, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association held their 107th annual awards banquet in Cherry Hill, NJ.  The PSWA honors athletes in every sport around the Philadelphia area. 

Opening Day 2011 is less than two months away, and Spring Training will begin in less than three weeks. Last year's successes are now a thing of the past. Teams now look ahead to focus on a having a successful 2011. 

The foundation for any good team is good starting pitcher. While some teams like the Phillies are blessed with an abundance of great starting pitching, others like like the Pirates will struggle to field even one Major League-level starting pitcher. 

You read who I thought were the 10 best hitters in baseball entering the 2011 season, and now here's a list of the 10 best pitchers in baseball.

This is a very tough list to make because there is so much good pitching these days, but these 10 stand out above all. You could have made a ranking of the top four pitchers in the game and listed every Phillies starter but that would've been too easy.

It appears as though a subtle paradigm shift has occurred. Teams are starting to become more defensive oriented-the balance of power in the league has shifted back over to the pitchers. The generation of this league full of pitchers, some already star and some knocking on the door to stardom.

Here is a look at the top 10 pitchers and the ballparks they may be most comfortable pitching in.

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The only big difference between these two starting pitchers is their throwing arm.

They each throw four plus pitches, all for strikes and on both sides of the plate; two-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, sinker and changeup.

Philosophically, they both approach pitching the same way. 

They don't get flustered, and they want the ball.

So, I had to pick someone, and I'd rather take Halladay.

Here's ten reasons why.....

The Philadelphia Phillies have re-raised the bar for their own expectations in the coming 2011 season.  As if expectations hadn't already been sky high over the past few years, 2011 may be the most hyped season in team history.  

The topic of trades has been a hot debate in Philadelphia Phillies fan circles, ever since the Phillies traded Cliff Lee away to the Seattle Mariners for Philippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies and J.C. Ramirez. 

But, the Cliff Lee trade a year later may turn out to be one of the more underrated deals in Philadelphia Phillies history.  The challenges of a general manager are many, and may not be the very obvious things that a fan wants to see or hear. 

But in the end, the success of the general manager depends on how the trade has worked out long term. 

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.