Tim Lincecum

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.

Tim Lincecum is nicknamed "The Freak" for a reason, and this latest Red Bull video is further proof.

With one of only 50 cameras in the world that can follow a speeding bullet, the folks over at Red Bull decided to shoot Lincecum throwing a pitch at 1,000 frames per second.

The incredible part about Lincecum's motion is how far his arm extends behind his back before it catapults forward.

One week down, plenty of panic buttons pushed.

It's been an upside down week for Major League Baseball. The Red Sox look like a slumbering bear just awoken from hibernation. The Twins actually won in the Bronx. And the Reds are quietly keeping busy—not that any of us have noticed...or have we?

Opening Day in Major League Baseball marks the start of new life. 

Winter is turning into spring, "cold" is changing to "warm", and baseball is coming out of hibernation.

The early stages of the season can tell us a lot about a team: strengths, weaknesses and if they have the potential to make a run at the postseason.

Game No. 1 of 162 has been played for each team, and we take a look at what we learned about each team on Opening Weekend 2011. 

The Giants did not expect to start their trek to a repeat title like this.

The Giants hit a road block on Thursday's opening day at Dodger Stadium, kicking the ball around in the sixth inning.

Miguel Tejada botched a throw to second with a runner at first with one out, followed by a rare Posey throwing error with the bases loaded. Just nanoseconds before, Posey made a great save on a pitch by Lincecum in the dirt.

Well, now that most of our NCAA brackets resemble the Libyan Air Force, we can move onto something that can provide some much needed optimism: fantasy baseball. What would the start of the season be without a rankings list?

The 2010 baseball season was the closest we have come to "The Year of the Pitcher" since 1968, when it was custom to win more than 20 games, and batting averages just barely slid into the .200's.

In 2010, it was crazy how many no-hitters and perfect games were thrown.

We, as fans, are blessed to be witnessing such talents on the mound these days.

Not just talent, but young talent.

I'm talking guys like Tim Lincecum, Felix Hernandez, Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price, etc. The list goes on and on.

Tim Lincecum was the king of aces during the Giants' 2010 postseason run. 

Going head to head with the best aces in the league, he was 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA over 37 innings.