The red-hot first baseman, who has homered in four straight home games, will look to continue his torrid hitting on Thursday while helping the Cubs go for a three-game sweep of Dusty Baker and the visiting Cincinnati Reds, who have lost five in a row.

Chicago (9-5) dropped three of its first four games at home in 2008, scoring only 14 runs, but has won its last four, putting up some big offensive numbers in the process. The Cubs have scored 33 times in those four games, and Lee has been the catalyst.

Lee is 12-for-16 in his last four games at Wrigley, and has homered in each contest. He led off the bottom of the third on Wednesday with a solo homer, part of a six-run inning in Chicago's 12-3 rout of the Reds (6-9).

"We got contributions throughout the lineup, especially our third hitter. He's really in a nice groove," manager Lou Piniella said. "He's zoned in. The ball just jumps off his bat."

Lee has six homers overall, a mark he didn't reach in 2007 until June 3.

With center fielder Alfonso Soriano on the disabled list and third baseman Aramis Ramirez still looking for consistency at the plate, Lee and right fielder Kosuke Fukudome (.353 average, eight RBIs) are helping to carry the Cub offense, something Lee has become accustomed to doing.

Since the start of 2007, Lee is hitting .382 with 21 homers and 57 RBIs at home for Chicago.

Lee hasn't faced Reds starter Edinson Volquez (1-0, 0.87 ERA), who came over in the offseason from Texas. Volquez had only made one unsuccessful start in the American League, but his introduction to the National League has gone well.

He didn't allow a run in his latest start, when he was limited to five innings due to a rain delay in Pittsburgh on Friday. Baker, however, was more than satisfied with the performance of his 24-year-old right-hander.

"Volquez pitched outstanding," Baker told the team's official Web site.

While Volquez has confounded opposing bats in his first two outings, Cubs starter Ted Lilly (0-2, 9.95) has left the mound looking for answers in each of his three starts.

Lilly hasn't made it through the fifth inning yet, and he's allowed five runs in each of his last two appearances, including a 7-1 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday.

"He didn't have a good spring training and it's carried over," Piniella said. "He's got to improve."

The left-hander might find more success against Cincinnati. He was 1-1 with a 3.33 ERA in five starts against the Reds a year ago, striking out 33 while walking only five.

Lilly struck out eight or more in seven games last season, three against Cincinnati.

The Reds have scored a combined 16 runs in their last six games, and Brandon Phillips' struggles have been a big reason why. He hasn't had a hit in his last 10 at-bats, and his career against Lilly has been even worse - he's 0-for-13.

After a dreadful 2-for-25 start to 2008, third baseman Edwin Encarnacion has started to come around. He's 8-for-23 (.348) in his last six games, but is just 1-for-10 lifetime against Lilly.