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The White Sox's postseason hopes rest largely on whether they get some production from Bartolo Colon.

By Tim Kurkjian, ESPN The Magazine

Mark Buehrle's perfect game was one of those special moments in baseball. For the White Sox as a team, it was another big win to help this strong start to the second half, in which they are 6-2 and locked in a tie atop the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers.

Now comes the hard part. Or, depending how you look at it, here comes a prime opportunity to depose the Tigers from their long-held perch atop the division. Any way you look at, though, with a four-game series in Detroit followed immediately by a tough trip to Minnesota, the White Sox have their work cut out for them.

In this series, the Tigers have the advantage. First off, they're playing in Comerica Park, where Detroit has the sixth-best home winning percentage in the majors. Secondly, the Tigers have their two All-Star pitchers, Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, taking the hill, whereas the White Sox's All-Star hurler won't pitch at all this series.

(Buehrle deserves the break; he did just throw a perfect game, after all.)

Buehrle or no Buehrle, though, the White Sox as a team have been playing well recently, posting a 23-12 mark since falling six games below .500 on June 10. Gordon Beckham has provided a surprising lift for them at third base, finding his swing almost as soon as he hit the majors early last month, something very rare in someone so young. He has driven in runs and has solved the White Sox's defensive issues at third since Joe Crede's stellar glove headed to Minnesota. Veteran Jim Thome has been swinging the bat well the past few weeks, too, hitting safely in 12 of his first 13 games in July.

Featured Series: White Sox at Tigers

FRIDAY White Sox (Jose Contreras, Bartolo Colon) at Tigers (Justin Verlander, Eddie Bonine), 1:05 ET/7:05 ET

SATURDAY White Sox (Gavin Floyd) at Tigers (Edwin Jackson), 4:05 ET

SUNDAY White Sox (Clayton Richard) at Tigers (Rick Porcello), 8:05 ET, ESPN

In the end, though, it all comes down to how you pitch. And Chicago's pitching has been really good to this point -- see: Buehrle, Mark -- but the White Sox will trot out one of their biggest question marks this weekend in Bartolo Colon, whose Friday night start will be his first since June 7.

You never can be quite sure with Colon because he has had a rather up-and-down career. He's been dominant in some periods; he's been hurt; and he's been missing (as was the case earlier this year). But it's clear he will have to be good these next few months for the White Sox to make the playoffs. The talent level is still there and, with the right frame of mind, he could be an effective pitcher down the stretch. We'll get our first look this weekend at how much he has left, how healthy he is and whether being away from the majors this long has had any effect.

In fact, with Jose Contreras on the hill for the first game in Friday's doubleheader, we're going to learn a lot about Chicago in just one day. Interestingly, I was told in spring training that the key to this season would be how well Colon and Contreras pitched. If they were great, the White Sox definitely would be a playoff team. If not, the team would fall from contention. Here we are, though, with the White Sox tied for the division lead with these two pitchers sporting a combined 7-14 record and 4.56 ERA. If they manage to get on track, it might just be enough to put the White Sox over the top.

Of course, you could make the case that Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Thome and even Contreras have started to age a little bit -- well, more than a little bit -- and that that could catch up to them as the season winds down. But there's another way to look at it: They've been in pennant races before and won a World Series. They have enough moving parts on this team to give their older guys a rest if they need to. I'm a big believer in experience down the stretch, so I'm not buying that these guys are too old to win the Central. That being said, none of these teams in the Central is good enough to truly run away with this division. We had all better get used to these three teams -- Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota -- being in it to the end. In fact, it wouldn't be a surprise if it came down to the final series of the season, when the Tigers and White Sox face off once more (in Detroit again).

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: July 22 | July 21 | July 20 | July 19 | July 16

HALL OF FAME BY THE NUMBERS: NO. 8

Editor's Note: This week, leading up to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y., Baseball Tonight is highlighting the five greatest uniform numbers in baseball history, based on the players (both Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers) who have worn them, and debating which player was the best ever to don that number.

By Tim Kurkjian, ESPN

They are the great eights, a uniform number so distinguished, Hall of Fame catchers Bill Dickey and Gary Carter were left out of the top five. And we still ended up with at least four players -- perhaps the most for any number -- with a case to be the greatest No. 8 of all time.

It starts with catcher Yogi Berra because he won 10 World Series championships, the most in history. Berra is, by most measures, one of the two best catchers of all time. He won three MVP awards, hit 358 home runs, struck out only 414 times and, for an 11-year period, averaged 102 RBIs.

The Greatest No. 8

Who was the greatest player to wear No. 8 in baseball history? • Yogi Berra • Joe Morgan • Cal Ripken Jr. • Willie Stargell • Carl Yastrzemski Register your vote

But was he a better No. 8 than Joe Morgan, who is, by most measures, one of the two best second basemen ever? He won consecutive MVPs, had the fifth-most walks in history and the 11th-most steals, and played the second-most games at second.

And then there is Cal Ripken, who helped turned shortstop into an offensive position in the early 1980s and was tremendous defensively. He hit the most homers (345) ever as a shortstop, collected 3,184 hits and played in a record 2,632 consecutive games.

Only Pete Rose played more games than Carl Yastrzemski, an 18-time All-Star who had the sixth-most hits ever, was the last Triple Crown winner, in 1967, and won seven Gold Gloves.

Willie Stargell rounds out the five. He hit 475 home runs, was the NL's co-MVP in 1979 and was the leader of the "We Are Family" champion Pirates in 1979.

The great eights indeed.

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Who went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on "Baseball Tonight" and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

Home Run Tracker
NAME	HR	PITCHER	SITUATION
Mark Teixeira, NYY	24	Mazzaro	Bot 4: 3-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
Aaron Hill, TOR	22	Huff	Bot 5: 0-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
Jason Kubel, MIN	17	Weaver	Top 1: 1-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
Yunel Escobar, ATL	11	Zito	Bot 2: 2-0, 0 Outs. None on.

The complete list of Thursday's homers