It's about time we switch these two hitters. Jimmy may not be the greatest 2 hole hitter (but it's not like we'd put anyone else there). It wouldn't provide MUCH of a change, but it would add a bit, and that is what a manager is supposed to do, right? Put his players in the best spot for them to succeed.
The numbers are simple despite Shane's run on homers lately.
OBP:
Jimmy- .326
Shane- .345
SLG:
Jimmy- .532
Shane- .398
Factor in that Shane has 9 more stolen bases than Rollins, I think that you'd want him batting leadoff and have Rollins further down in the order (5th would probably be best). I am not asking anything that dramatic (or like putting Burrell 2nd to take advantage of his OBP).
On a side note, what amazed me is that Rollins has 53 runs scored with 83 hits and 17 walks and 4 HBP. He is scoring over 50% of the time he is on base. Here is a breakdown of times on base and runs scored of the 6 "regulars". One caveat is that Burrell's runs scored will be skewed due to Bourn always being a late game pinch runner for him.
Rollins: 53 Runs / 104 TOB = 51%
Victorino: 44 Runs / 99 TOB = 44%
Utley: 48 Runs / 120 TOB = 40%
Howard: 24 Runs / 84 TOB = 29%
Burrell: 25 Runs / 96 TOB = 26%
Rowand: 44 runs / 114 = 39%
What is TRUELY shocking is that Ryan Howard has 24 runs scored with 14 homeruns. That means, of the remaining 70 times on base, he scored 10 times for a 14% clip. TRUELY awful. Now, before you kill Pat too much and to a lesser extent Rowand, because he bats after Howard as well, these numbers aren't THAT awful.
Runners on base:
Burrell: .220 .411 .427
Rowand: .308 .394 .449
RISP:
Burrell: .260 .426 .460
Rowand: .367 .461 .517
Thinking about this, Howard has 40 hits and 42 walks for 82 times on base (no HBP). 14 of them have been homeruns, and 7 of them have been doubles (surprisingly no triples). So, of the 82 times on base, Howard has been on first only 61 times. So, while Burrell's numbers have been blech with runners on base, it really doesn't seem to be the reason Howard isn't scoring. He isn't going to score from 1st on a single and most likely not on a double either. Pat is getting him to second often enough with his .411 OBP. So, it's not like Pat is making a ton of outs with Howard (or anybody for that matter) on base either.
Rowand has even better numbers with men on base than Pat. And his RISP are pretty darn good. So, if Pat is moving Howard to second at a pretty decent clip and Rowand is hitting pretty well with RISP, how does Howard ONLY have 10 runs scored on balls that aren't homeruns? I may have to waste time and look at each gamelog, but I don't really see why it is that bad just based on analysis. Sorry for the tanget, but that may have been more interesting than the initial premise of this post.