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Lee aims to rid himself of painful memory in series opener

May 25, 2007 - 3:10 PM Chicago Cubs (21-24) at LA Dodgers (27-20) 10:40 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Enjoying a fine season to this point, Derrek Lee will return to the place where it all went wrong last season.

Lee and the Chicago Cubs will begin a three-game series as they visit the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday.

Last season, Lee and the Cubs had their campaign head downhill last season following a collision with Rafael Furcal on April 19, 2006, which resulted in Lee suffering a fractured wrist.

Lee was limited to only 50 games last season, with the Cubs going 21-29 with the slugging first baseman in the lineup and 45-67 without him.

So far, Lee has bounced back from the injury, batting a robust .370 with three homers and 25 RBI in 40 games.

Chicago will hand the ball to Ted Lilly (4-2, 2.69 ERA), who ranks among the National League leaders in ERA, strikeouts (54) and opponent's batting average against (.210). The lefthander yielded three runs and six hits over seven innings, striking out six in the Cubs' 6-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox last Friday.

Lilly has faced the Dodgers just twice - including one start - and is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA against Los Angeles.

Derek Lowe (4-5, 3.84 ERA) will oppose Lilly. The sinkerballer, who leads the NL in complete games, allowed four runs and nine hits in Sunday's 4-1 complete-game loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Anaheim.

The righthander is 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in four lifetime starts against Chicago.

This series continues one of the majors' longest-standing and most competitive rivalries in the NL. The Dodgers and Cubs have played a total of 2,009 games, with the Cubs leading the series 1,005-1,004.