Tim Lincecum

It appears as though the pitcher's era has begun.

There have been many surprises this season, and many teams have ended up with great pitching staffs.

It is very debatable which team actually has the best pitching staff.

In this article, I will give my opinion on the matter, and rank the top five staffs in the NL, along with a few honorable mentions.

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Though it's still too early to determine who will take the field in Phoenix for the 2011 MLB All-Star Game, it's always worth a look back at who has played well in the first month of the new season.

The San Francisco Giants are looking forward to having their manager, Bruce Bochy, lead the National League All-Stars and to having the most All-Stars from San Francisco in nearly a decade.

Here's a look at the Giants All-Stars from the month of April, ranked in order of their impact for the club.

Tim Lincecum is the face of the San Francisco Giants, but in a time where team loyalty is down and money is king, is it possible that he and other beloved Giants will end up elsewhere?

If there was ever a pitcher in baseball who deserves a lifetime contract extension, it would be Tim Lincecum.

Tim Lincecum has already etched his name in Giants history. His is the stuff of legend, and he's only in his fifth major league season.

The Giants right-hander won back-to-back National League Cy Young awards in his first two seasons, becoming the only pitcher in major league history to accomplish that feat.

He led all of baseball in strikeouts in each of his first three full big-league seasons.

It's always a great thing to see teams lock up young players long-term, especially young pitchers. We all know the saying, "pitching wins championships." Because of that, pitching will always be at a premium in baseball.

Next year's free agent class is almost barren when it comes to starting pitching. Teams that need starters are going to be turning over every rock in search of pitchers that might be available through a trade.

Coming into Monday's opening game of a three-game series between the Giants and Rockies at Coors Field, the buzz around baseball was how the Colorado Rockies have surged to a 12-3 start right out of the gate in 2011.  Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki have been called the best 1-2 offensive punch in the game and the Rockies seemed to be unstoppable.

The top two pitchers for the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies are arguably the top tandems in the Major Leagues. 

Each of these pitchers is an ace in his own right, but combined with the other, they make a great one-two punch for their respective teams.

In baseball today, fickle fans have a fascination with speed when it comes to pitching.  Unless a pitcher can throw a fastball upwards of 94 miles per hour, it seems that he is not worth one's total attention.  While the fastball is certainly a fine pitch, I would prefer today to talk about a horse of a different color: the changeup.

When the San Francisco Giants called up Matt Cain in August of 2005, he made his debut as the second youngest pitcher in the major leagues.  Now in his seventh season as a big leaguer, Cain is a seasoned veteran with a laundry list of accomplishments to his credit.  He finished last year's World Championship season with a 13-11 record with a 3.14 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 177 strikeouts, 61 walks, 223 innings pitched and four complete games (including two shutouts).  

We've all seen it: the signature move.  Many great baseball players have displayed them time and time again throughout their careers, and through them they make the game look easy.

There are the great moves, and then there are the weird ones, which baseball fans of all generations have seen as well.

Here's a list of the best, and strangest signature moves from players in the game today, as well as a few from the annals of history.