With Pence, Ruben gets it right for Phils

BOOK EARLY. I can't give you the Feb. 12 weather for Indianapolis, not from this far out, but cold with a chance of flurries is a safe climatological bet.

Not that it will matter for Super Bowl XLV. The Lucas Oil Center has a roof and heaters. Just make sure you have your Eagles green hooded parka for walking or staggering around Indy's sparse downtown.

Phillies fans will be outdoors and are veterans of dressing for such diverse October venues as Denver, where they experienced an elimination game in three-and-flee 2007 and a snow-out in 2009.

The dreaded Red Sea has flowed south to St. Pete's Tropicana Field, SoCal west to LA, NorCal west to The City, lower midwest to Cincy and up the I-95 corridor to Yankee Stadium.

Dress light for Atlanta. But late October is the best time of year in San Francisco. Boston, New York and Philly, where the World Series endgame figures to be played out, will be somewhere between tolerable and miserable as the game nights slide into November.

All of this giddy surmise began looking seductively like a slam dunk on V-P Day (Victory in Philly) - when the Eagles blew up the NFL without the loss of an important player, when the Phillies' offense went from the 1959 Chicago White Sox offense to "Omigod, get the married men off the field."

Watching the Eagles' triumvirate of Andy Reid, Joe Banner and Howie Roseman was like watching Michael Corleone settle with the five families while his godson was being baptized.

Look, I hate to use back-to-back "Godfather" comps, but there should have been a swell of organ music after each addition and subtraction, the scene climaxing with Jeffrey Lurie swearing to renounce playoff elimination. Our Eagles coverage team, which has switched to the 3-4 this year, is all over the acquisitions, any one of which would have been headline news during past preseasons.

The small touches through the Eagles' and Phillies' blitz through the twilight of the NFL free-agency signing period and the approach of the MLB deadline to make non-waiver transactions were dazzling . . .

The Eagles not only solved their backup QB situation by dealing lightly played Kevin Kolb for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, they pried loose a second-round pick from Arizona along with the gifted cornerback.

In return for a steamer trunk containing Brodrick Bunkley, the Birds scored a 2012 fifth-round pick.

Our old pal Santa Wade blew former employee Ruben Amaro Jr. a big, wet kiss of a $1 million cash payment in the already-lopsided Hunter Pence deal that will help keep the Phillies under the luxury tax.

Wade and his Houston scouts apparently were not enamored enough with Domonic Brown to insist on his inclusion in a deal that represents a great leap of faith for the 'Stros.

I agree with baseball people who have concluded the total Brown package will be something less than the sum of his parts.

In my early years as a Phillies beat writer, I was exposed to some of the best centerfield and rightfield talent of all time . . . Willie Mays, Curt Flood, Bill Bruton, Willie Davis, Vada Pinson and Cesar Cedeno in center. Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Johnny Callison, Hank Aaron and Bobby Bonds in right. The AL had supers you only got to see in All-Star Games and the postseason: Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Tony Oliva, Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, many others.

Those top-line center and rightfielders had one thing in common: exceptional, almost balletic, grace. They flowed to balls, caught and threw in the same motion, had superb footwork. Almost all hit with power and were top- or middle-of-the-lineup guys. Any list of the top 10 outfielders in history will have Mays, Mantle, Kaline, Aaron and Clemente on it.

But if I had to sum up the early, not-ready-for-showtime Dom Brown with one word, that word would be: ungainly.

His swing balance is dreadful. When Davey Lopes tried to teach him a secondary lead one day during 2009 spring training, his frustration level was obvious. After the drill on the half field next to Bright House Field, I asked the Phils' renowned running coach, "How are his baserunning instincts?" Lopes replied with one word. "Poor."

OK. Hunter Pence is not going to dance "Swan Lake." But with his Ichabod Craneian inelegance comes a necklace of All-Star numbers. The man can flat-out play.

That said, I could name a horde of ungainly leftfielders I have observed. Guys who could rake. Dom Brown now has a chance to be one of them.

Hunter Pence is going to be the rightfielder here for a long time. Shane Victorino will be in center until his high-revving motor burns out. Pencil D. Brown as the 2012 Opening Day LF.

Meanwhile, I have a hard time projecting Jonathan Singleton or Jarred Cosart as franchise-level players. Dallas Green was sent down to cover a Cosart start and the kid rewarded Amaro's special assistant with the best performance of his career. I probably saw Jarred too many times when he was groping for his release point or rehabbing a tender arm. I like righthander Trevor May much better.

Singleton had good numbers in the Sally League last season as an 18-year-old and was promoted two levels out of extended. But he had a lesser second half and hasn't exactly torn up the Florida State League. He is a work in progress.

Josh Zeid is 16-9 in three minor league seasons, but the 6-5 righthander was not on anyone's radar.

So, my take on a deal that will have the Phillies pushing 110 victories is this: A player who will bat No. 5 past the middle of this decade for a four-pack of players who will not be missed.