"The Renaissance manager of the Cincinnati Reds returns to northern California to tend his grapes (petit syrah) and his family. At some point, he will venture for two weeks to the Hawaiian Islands, as he has every year for at least a decade. Dusty Baker will go to the Lawai Valley on the south shore of Kauai, where he says he will "walk, think and pray.''

The prayer list is considerable: Right-handed hitting power hitter ... center fielder who can play 150 games ... the healthy return of shortstop Alex Gonzalez. And oh yeah, Lord: Good family, good friends and good health.

Baker first went to Lawai six years ago. He'd just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Surgery was scheduled for two days after his return. On the flight to Honolulu, Baker read of "the healing island," and its epicenter, Lawai.

"Let's change our plans," he said to his wife.

As Baker relays the story, he hands me a package of note cards. Each features a photo of the "Light of Lawai," an unaltered image of rainbow sunlight radiating through the trees. Lawai is where "first Hawaiians and then Asians built their sanctuaries of healing and hope," is what is written on the card.

"I went there and I knew I'd be all right,'' Baker says. "Been there 10 or 20 times since, mostly just me, to pray and think and give thanks to still being here. Heavy place."

This might explain Baker some, even if it doesn't explain why he batted Corey Patterson 366 times or pitched Aaron Harang three times in one ruinous seven-day stretch in May. It doesn't solve the riddle of why, for most of the year, this team looked a lot like the previous eight Reds teams.

Is Dusty Baker a good manager? Beats me. He can't be stereotyped. Less than any guy I've ever covered, he doesn't fit into a box. He's not the guy you thought disliked young players. He's not the Manager Who Ruined Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Nor has he proved to be the manager whose sure hand and gentle-but-firm touch would motivate the veterans and inspire the young players.

Players all say they like playing for him. Do they play any harder for it?

Baker has managed more than 1,200 winning games and taken a team to the World Series, but he didn't do an A-plus job this year, improving by two wins the Reds' total from 2007. Much more will be expected next year, especially if Walt Jocketty can bring a big bat to the middle of the lineup whose name begins with Matt and ends with Holliday."