The first two months of the 2010 season are in the books and many new splits have been recorded. As the calendar turns to June and the summer officially begins, Splitsville zeroes in on the players whose bats and arms liven with the warming of the weather and also on those guys who have surprised only to slow down the more their tendencies are learned around the league.

Teams are beginning to see opponents for the second and third times and now, more than ever, is when splits begin to matter. With that in mind, on to the Week 9 splits.

Five Strikes (Positive Splits)

Chone Figgins, 2B, Mariners
Upcoming Schedule: Four games vs. Minnesota, Three games vs. L.A. Angels
Figgins has been dismal ever since putting on a Mariners uniform and after 165 at-bats with just nine extra-base hits and an average below the Mendoza line, it seems apparent he's lost his swing. But Figgins can't go the whole season like this, can he? If there was a month when he'd start to pick things up, June is it. Figgins is a career .326 hitter in June, 21 points higher than in his next best month. The on-base percentage goes up, the slugging goes up and hopefully Figgins will start hitting like the top Fantasy option he's been in the past. Figgins also owns the Twins with a .339 batting average against them over 239 at-bats, his highest average against any American League team. Playing against his former employer, the Angels, should help his cause, too, but Figgins went 0 for 10 against them the first time around in 2010.

Josh Willingham, OF, Nationals
Upcoming Schedule: Four games at Houston, Three games vs. Cincinnati
The month of June has historically been a bit of a struggle for the Hammer, hitting .263 over 194 career at-bats during the sixth month on the calendar. A closer look would show that Willingham, however, is coming off the best June of his career in 2009 when he hit .368 over 38 at-bats with a career-high .526 slugging percentage. The splits are even further in Willingham's favor when you consider he will play four games at Houston's Minute Maid Park, a place he's hit .385 at during his career spanning 39 at-bats with five homers and 10 RBI. Willingham hits better at Minute Maid than at any other National League park still being used and he went 6 for 14 (.429) with two homers and five RBI there just last season. A .309 hitter against the Reds, Willingham should be a great start in all leagues in Week 9.

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Brett Myers, SP, Astros
Upcoming Schedule: June 1 start vs. Washington, June 6 start vs. Chicago Cubs
Myers will likely be available off waivers as a two-start pickup this week and normally we suggest you stay away from mediocre pitchers in that regard. The splits predict otherwise in Week 9, however, as Myers could be a nice little sleeper option for the scoring period. Myers has a 10-9 career record against the Nationals with a 4.18 ERA but since 2007 has gone 4-2 against them with 11 runs allowed spanning 50-plus innings with 38 strikeouts over that time. For as solid as he's been recently against the Nats, Myers has always owned the Cubs for some reason. He is 7-3 against Chicago with a 2.63 career ERA over 72 innings pitched with 69 strikeouts. Myers is 4-1 against them over his last eight appearances -- four starts -- spanning 36-plus innings with 42 strikeouts over that time.

Rod Barajas, C, N.Y. Mets
Upcoming Schedule: Three games at San Diego, Three games vs. Florida
Barajas has been a pleasant surprise for the Mets this season and is likely worth starting in most mixed Fantasy formats regardless of his splits. Still, in Week 9 they suggest that Barajas could have a very nice scoring period. Barajas hits 10 points higher in June than during his next best month as he carries a .268 batting average during the sixth month of the season. Barajas has also hit .364 against the Florida Marlins over 88 career at-bats with four homers and 19 RBI. The Marlins are easily his favorite team to face among teams he's taken on with at least 10 plate appearances.

Jamey Carroll, INF, L.A. Dodgers
Upcoming Schedule: Three games vs. Arizona, Four games vs. Atlanta
If the Dodgers study the splits they would tell them to start Carroll a good deal in the upcoming scoring period. That is because when the calendar turns to the sixth month, Carroll's bat awakens from a deep slumber. Carroll, a career .274 batter, has hit .312 in June over the course of his career. September/October is his next best month at .286. Carroll slugs .418 in June, the only month he tops .400 and his on-base percentage (.377) is almost 20 points higher than any other month. Carroll is clearly not a big-time Fantasy option but could prove very valuable in Week 9 in deeper formats.

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Five 7-10 Splits (Negative Splits)

Corey C. Hart, OF, Brewers
Upcoming Schedule: Four games at Florida, Three games at St. Louis
Focusing on June splits, Hart's best month is actually the sixth of the calendar year with a career average of .293, 10 points higher than his next best month. That would suggest starting Hart in Week 9, but the rest of his splits scream otherwise. Playing seven road contests in the upcoming scoring period, Hart has been dismal over his career at both Florida's Sun Life Stadium and St. Louis' new Busch Stadium. With a .154 batting average over 39 at-bats in Florida and a .202 average over 89 ABs in St. Louis, those two parks join Atlanta's Turner Field as his worst three hitting ballparks in the majors.

Kevin Correia, SP, Padres
Upcoming Schedule: May 31 start vs. N.Y. Mets, June 6 start at Philadelphia
Correia has lost three straight decisions and got a no-decision his last time out but walked six batters. On top of his recent struggles, the Mets and Phillies have always been somewhat of an enigma for the San Diego starter. Correia actually has an outstanding 1.63 career ERA against the Mets over three starts and nine appearances but has never beaten them (0-3). If that doesn't sound too bad, how about an ERA of 12.27? That would be Correia's against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Ballpark over five games and one start. Correia is 0-2 against the Phillies for his career and his only start against them in 2009 was a disaster in which he lasted just 3 1/3 innings and allowed eight earned runs on nine hits and three walks. He may start twice, but he's 0-5 for his career against the teams he's facing.

Marlon Byrd, CF, Chicago Cubs
Upcoming Schedule: Three games at Pittsburgh, Three games at Houston
You'd think playing against the Pirates and Astros, two of the NL's lesser opponents, would bode well for Byrd, hitting .299 on the season with seven homers and 26 RBI through 184 at-bats. The splits would disagree, however, as Pittsburgh's PNC Park and Houston's Minute Maid Park have not been Byrd-friendly over the years. In fact, with Byrd a .196 hitter in Pittsburgh and a .200 hitter in Houston, PNC and Minute Maid have limited him to his lowest batting averages against any two teams in the majors with at least 50 at-bats. Already 2 for 10 this season at PNC, Byrd has exactly one career home run on the road against these two opponents for his career, and that came back in 2006 in Houston when Enron was the corporate sponsor.

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Livan Hernandez, SP, Nationals
Upcoming Schedule: June 4 start vs. Cincinnati
Hernandez has not won a start since moving to 4-1 on May 4 against Atlanta. He's dropped two of his last four outings and the Week 9 splits do not suggest it is going to be a positive scoring period. Hernandez, a veteran of 14 years, is just 2-7 against the Reds over the course of his career spanning 13 starts. Hernandez's ERA over that span is 5.64 and his WHIP is high at 1.512. The record isn't good but Hernandez's two victories came back in 2000 and 1997, respectively. Since 2001, Hernandez is 0-5 against Cincinnati. In his last three starts against them, he's given up 15 runs on 25 hits over 16 innings.

Ian Kinsler, 2B, Rangers
Upcoming Schedule: Three games at Chicago White Sox, Three games vs. Tampa Bay
With Kinsler struggling badly of late -- he is 3 for 20 (.150) over his last five games -- Week 9 could be a decent scoring period to give him a break. Not because he is struggling but because the splits suggest he will not turn it around just yet. Kinsler is just a .248 hitter against the Rays, one of the toughest pitching staffs in baseball, but he is terrible at U.S. Cellular field. Kinsler has gone 10 for 54 (.185) over his career in the White Sox’s home ballpark with just one homer and nine RBI.

You can e-mail our staff your questions at DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Splitsville in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. We'll get to as many as we can.

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