Volquez won his 15th, holding the Cardinals to no runs and three hits over seven innings.
OK, what puts the starch in Baker's attitude right now?
"I believe all this, I really do," he said. "We're going to have the natural evolution of young men to men.
"Volquez should do much the same, Johnny Cueto is going to get better, Homer Bailey could be here to be better and we could make a couple of off-season pitching acquisitions.
"Jay Bruce talks to Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman about hitting," Baker added. "He's very inquisitive and Berkman told him he'll take control and be comfortable in a year. Joey Votto is going to be better. We have young guys like Chris Dickerson and hopefully we re-sign Jerry Hairston Jr. and we hope he stays healthy.
"There are some area we want to improve and we have some veterans to help us improve," Baker added. "We'll have more stability on the bench. Brandon Phillips is going to get better and our players will be more comfortable in the big leagues and feeling they belong."
Baker was just warming up, really getting into what he believes about this team, the only sixth-place team in the majors.
"We'll have more speed, better defense and we had a number of things that turned into distractions," he said. "We won't have nearly as many guys wondering who is going to be traded (like Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn). Our bullpen should be more stable.
"Young Bill Bray should be stronger next year and you have to think Francisco Cordero (who gave up two runs in the ninth Sunday) will be better, Bronson Arroyo will be better. And you can't tell me that Aaron Harang is going to repeat this year (3-13). That's impossible. Harang will be Harang."
And that's Dusty Baker being Dusty Baker and he said with emphasis, "That's what I believe."
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