Lee says it's too early for Triple Crown talk.(Derrek Lee)

Byline: Dave van Dyck

CHICAGO _ The media throng was waiting for Derrek Lee's return to Wrigley Field on Monday night, armed with a new batch of questions for a player who may have thought he had heard them all.

So, he was asked, do you know your statistics?

"Oh, yeah," he said, "I know."

Lee is too honest to feign ignorance of the numbers that show him at or near the top in nearly every league offensive category, as many players having exceptional years would.

He entered Monday night's game leading the National League in home runs with 17, batting average at .385, RBI with 52 (tied with Milwaukee's Carlos Lee) and runs with 45.

"It's been a great two months," he said. "I've just felt great every time up, and I try to go up and not give away any at-bats."

Cubs manager Dusty Baker said, despite what players say, every player knows what he's hitting.

"You know your numbers when you're in Little League, when you first know how to divide," he said. "You have stuff on your wristbands (in Little League) that if you go 2-for-4, you're hitting this. ... Even when I was playing, you didn't get into the (batter's) box until you saw what you were hitting (on the scoreboard). Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad."

Obviously, in Lee's case, that's good. His numbers give him a shot at baseball's first Triple Crown since 1967, something his former Florida coach and current White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says Lee can do.

"Ozzie," Lee said with a laugh. "Well, Ozzie's a great guy, but it's so early you can't think about the Triple Crown. You've just got to go out there and do the best you can.

"If you're leading the categories in mid-September, then you can talk about it, but with four months to go, that's too many games."

Then he doesn't believe Ozzie?

"I believe him. It's possible," he said. "What's not possible? But it's too early to talk about."

But Lee talks about anything the media brings up. He does it with a smile, politely and in complete sentences. Not long sentences necessarily, but coherent sentences nonetheless.

"I've always been a quiet guy," he said. "That's just me by nature. But it's not like I'm an introvert. You get to know me, I can have a conversation with you. But in front of the media, I'm probably more of a quiet guy.

"I don't mind (interviews) because it means I'm still doing good and we're still winning."

And the sudden spurt of attention would change him?

"Why would it?" he said with a chuckle. "I've got to be me no matter what, so it's not going to change me.

"I feel like I've gotten better every year, and I think it's continuing this year. A lot of hitting is mental. You can make adjustments. Most hitters, as they mature, get better."

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(c) 2005, Chicago Tribune.

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