ESPN

Derrek Lee's 19-game hitting streak is the longest of his career. In his past 19 games, he has batted .359 with six homers and 17 RBIs. If Detroit wants to stop his streak from reaching 20 games when the Tigers begin a three-game series versus the visiting Cubs on Tuesday night, they should try to pitch him inside.

But if Tuesday's starter, Edwin Jackson, leaves a pitch out over the plate where Lee can get extended, he'll find trouble. Lee is hitting .400 on pitches over the middle and an even better .423 on pitches away.

If Jackson can commit to pitching inside to Lee, he still should not leave any pitches up, as Lee is hitting .400 against pitches up and in. If Jackson can locate his pitches from the belt down (.231 inside middle of the plate and .161 down and away from the plate), he will improve his odds of preventing Lee from continuing his hit streak.

This season, just more than one of every three pitches Jackson throws has been inside. When Lee steps to the dish, Jackson might want to increase the frequency with which he pitches inside.

Lee is a bright spot for the Cubs' offense, which has struggled this season. Another sign the Cubs' offense has been troublesome: No Cubs hitter has made the top 20 in batting average versus fastballs, curveballs, sliders and changeups.

Entering Monday's games, several players had made the bottom 20. Alfonso Soriano is 10th-worst in the majors versus curveballs (three hits, .086 BA) and 15th worst versus changeups (four hits, .138 BA).

Geovany Soto (.083) and Mike Fontenot (.071) are among the six worst hitters versus sliders.

Milton Bradley has made the bottom 20 versus changeups (.130).