FanHouse Sandy Koufax

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Yes, the Dodgers' solar system revolves around Manny Ramirez. He's their star on the field and their main attraction.

But they wouldn't have Ramirez, nor many of the players who carried the team in his absence, were it not for a farm system that has been remarkably productive.

"It's nice that management kept us all here," ace Chad Billingsley told FanHouse. "There's some teams that maybe just start trading guys away. And believing in us, that's a huge thing."

In the 2002-03 drafts, Los Angeles took Russell Martin, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp and Billingsley. Those five players made their big league debuts within an 11-month span, from July 2005 to June 2006.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

The only downside of the NBA playoffs is that I feel like I miss some baseball that I would normally get to see. But with the Lakers (sigh) crowned champs now, both Kobe Bryant and I -- he was at the stadium, I was pantsless in my apartment, natch -- got the chance to watch the Angels and Dodgers go to civil war on Sunday Night Baseball.

And what I was treated to was a very impressive showing from my current favorite mancrush, Clayton Kershaw. You might know him as the "next Sandy Koufax" if you're a real devote, but more than likely, you know him as the "inconsistent southpaw who has yet to really flourish in the Dodgers rotation."

Sandy Koufax, three time Cy Young winner and Dodgers great, is on a distinguished list of clients that Bernie Madoff conned out of millions with his Ponzi scheme, according to documents that were made public in a U.S. Bankruptcy court yesterday.

Koufax was a friend of former Mets owner Mike Wilpon, and as a result ran in the same circles as the man who allegedly pulled off "the biggest financial fraud in history."

The Jacksonville Suns did that thing where they pull a stud prospect pitcher early even though he is fine and pitching well. I say "that thing" because such a manuever is usually followed by a call-up to the major leagues. And that's the news coming out of Dodger-land as well, with Clayton Kershaw dealing and the Dodgers making a run in the NL West.

Beginning with Tuesday's game in Chicago, the Dodgers will need a fifth starter on almost a traditional five-day rotation through the All-Star break. The last time the spot came up Saturday in Anaheim, manager Joe Torre went with a tag-team of Chan Ho Park for four innings (one earned run), followed by Hong-Chih Kuo for four scoreless innings in a 6-3 win.

Bear in mind that a few weeks ago, when we thought Kershaw was getting the call, the Dodgers were not as hot on the heels of Arizona as they are now. The team was inconsistent, except for Andruw Jones, who stunk all the time. Suddenly, they are surging, just three games back. And they have a prospect that their manager has likened to Sandy Koufax (whether that's accurate or not is beside the point).

So a call-up coming seems pretty likely. Or at least pretty reasonable. So, um, welcome to the Kershaw-dome. And any other number of horrible Public Enemy jokes I will be slinging your way.

Fantasy Spin: If you haven't burned through your transaction cap listening to me on Kershaw advice, go ahead and run back out there and grab him. He's a phenom with an otherwordly curveball and tons of strikeout potential. Non-keepers want to be trying to move him as soon as he gets up, if not earlier, because of his innings cap and the hype involved.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Kansas City Royals (14-16) vs. Los Angeles Angels (20-13) - 8:10PM Est.

Who the hell needs John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar? It's a question that many Angels fans have probably been asking themselves a bit the last few weeks. I mean, those two were only the two best starters on the Angels staff last year, winning a combined 37 games.

Who needs those 37 wins when you have Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana? Those two have pitched back-to-back all season long, and neither have bothered to try losing a game yet. Yesterday Saunders improved to 6-0 on the year with a win over the Orioles, and today Ervin will try to join his teammate at 6-0.

International Pastime will look at baseball's influence outside the U.S.

It's still yet to be determined if the Israel Baseball League is going to be any sort of a success. But, there seems to be a swell of excitement about it, and the sport continues to gain popularity in the country.

That being said, the league's draft just recently went down and it paid tribute to one of the greatest -- if not the greatest Jewish-American player of all-time -- Sandy Koufax.

Forty-one years after he retired from baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax was the final player chosen in the draft to stock the six teams for the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League.

Koufax, 71, was picked by the Modi'in Miracle in the draft conducted by former major league general manager Dan Duquette, who heads baseball operations for the league.

"His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league," said former big leaguer Aret Shamsky, who will manage the Miracle. "It's been 41 years between starts for him. If he's rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team."

I think that's a pretty neat little tribute. Personally, I really hope this league succeeds. Not because I'll be paying much attention to it, but because I think those guys who just aren't quite good enough to hook on in the majors or maybe even the minors -- but still love the game of baseball -- should get the chance to play professionally.

(BTW: Wilbon and Kornheiser just talked about this on PTI and Wilbon thinks Koufax can still bring it -- even at 71 years of age.)

It's been a far cry since 2003 when Dodger Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax cut ties with the organization. If you remember, Koufax was upset at News Corp (which previously owned the team), because a newspaper it owned ran a gossip column that intimated he was homosexual. Since then, the team was sold by News Corp, and Koufax has been back to help out at Vero Beach. In fact, on Tuesday he was at Dodgertown assisting Brett Tomko:

"He came over during my bullpen session and saw that I was talking with Derek [Lowe] about my delivery and he said, 'I hope you don't mind,' and he made a suggestion about my rhythm and how he used to do it," said Tomko. "When a Hall of Famer does that, you don't tell him no. If you don't listen to him and soak up everything he says like a sponge, you're a moron."

There are two positives about this story. For one, it's nice that the legendary Koufax is still helping out with the team. And secondly, it's just as impressive that Tomko actually listened to him. How often do we hear about young punks ignoring tips from experience veterans? This is a good story all around.