Three Giants Deserve To Make The All Star Game

The San Francisco Giants are having a dismal season so far but they have three legitimate candidates for the All-Star Game.

Catcher Bengie Molina is batting .333 with six homers and 36 RBIs. He is batting cleanup for a team with no superstars. Molina has absolutely no protection in the lineup. He has come up with clutch hits time after time.

His competition for an All-Star spot include Geovany Soto, Russell Martin, and Brian McCann.

Soto is hitting .299 with nine homers and 37 RBIs for the Cubs. Martin has three homers and 20 RBIs for the Dodgers while batting .311. McCann is batting .320 and has nine homers and 32 RBIs for the Braves.

McCann and Soto have great numbers so far but they are not the heart and soul of the lineup for their club like Molina. The Braves rely on Chipper Jones and Mark Texiera for hits and Soto has no pressure batting behind sluggers like Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and Aramis Ramirez.

Besides having a good bat, Molina also is one of the best defensive catchers in the league and calls a great game. He made the transition from the American League to the National League appear seamless last season.

Molina has stated that he spends most of his time studying hitters and  concentrating on helping his pitchers. This would make his offensive statistics seem more remarkable and impressive.

The other two candidates from the Giants who should make the All-Star Team are pitchers Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson.

Lincecum is 7-1 with a 2.33 ERA. He has not given up more than three earned runs in any start this year. He also leads the National League in strikeouts with 76.

Closer Brian Wilson has made fans try to forget the Armando Benetiz era.

Wilson leads the National League in saves with 16. Although he has a high ERA(4.54), Wilson has been able to escape trouble many times in the ninth inning and preserved many victories for the Giants. He has given the Giants stability at the closer position and he is going to be their closer for many years.

Will three Giants make the NL All-Star team? The answer to that is probably no, since this team is in third place in a weak division. 

The best bet to make the team would be Lincecum. If he keeps on pitching as well as he has and Arizona's Brandon Webb continues to struggle, Lincecum might even be able to get the nod to be the starter in the All-Star Game.