T.J. Simers:  Nothing corny about Casey Blake’s Dodgers stint

I was telling Manny Ramirez the other day I was going to do a nice story on the Dodgers’ best mid-season acquisition a year ago, Manny laughing because he knew I was talking about Casey Blake.

In so many ways, as Manny would agree, there’s no argument.

But it’s such a difficult column to compose, almost nothing negative to say about Blake, so obviously I don’t know where to begin.

He looks like the double for the Most Interesting Man in the World, but he’s from Iowa, the world one big cornfield as far as he’s concerned.

That’s right, he’s a hick, “a wild night in L.A. so far,” he says, “the drive home after the game,” Blake making the hay-wagon jump from Indianola, Iowa, to Hollywood, released by three teams along the way, but batting cleanup now for the team with the best record in baseball.

“If you give me a minute I can tell you how many stoplights are in Indianola,” he says, while staring off into the distance and counting out loud, “one, two, three, four, five, six.

“Every one of them is always green,” he says, while also proud to boast they have a Wal-Mart and a movie theater, the Paramount.