Dodgers teammate Adrian Gonzalez -- MLB's RBI champ, with Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards as well -- said, "If somebody even tries to mention someone else, they're an idiot."

Kershaw, who won his third NL Cy Young Award on Wednesday, is considered by many the favorite to not only overcome the candidacies of fellow NL MVP Award finalists Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates and Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins, but also the bias of some voters who believe that a pitcher shouldn't win the trophy no matter what he's accomplished.

Even Dodgers Hall-of-Fame former manager Tom Lasorda, a pitcher in his playing days, chimed in this week, siding with those that believe if a position player can't win the Cy Young Award, a pitcher shouldn't win the MVP Award.

"Tommy's an opinionated guy and that's OK," said Kershaw, who jokingly referred to Lasorda's view as a "ringing endorsement."

Kershaw's manager, Don Mattingly, was in that camp. But Mattingly, who won the American League MVP Award in 1985, changed his mind while watching Kershaw go 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and enough record-setting achievements to validate comparisons to Sandy Koufax.

"I flip-flopped from when I played, but as a manager you just see the value of what a guy like Clayton's been able to do," Mattingly said. "I do think it needs to be one of those years where it seems like it's almost extraordinary, and it seems to be one of those years. I see the value in that guy, as opposed to when I was playing -- not that you didn't see value in pitching, but it's a different thing."

The most recent time a National League pitcher won the Most Valuable Player Award, the Rules Committee lowered the mound soon after. It was 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher," and Bob Gibson was the NL MVP Award winner with a 1.12 ERA. Seriously, 1.12. The AL has had seven pitchers win MVP Awards since Cy Young Awards were given in both leagues, most recently Justin Verlander in 2011.

MLB.com Dodgers reporter Ken Gurnick makes a case for Clayton Kershaw as the National League MVP

The closest an NL pitcher has come to winning an MVP since 1968 was runner-up Tom Seaver in '69. Greg Maddux finished third in '95 behind Barry Larkin and Dante Bichette.

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Kershaw is a rare pitcher worthy of MVP Award

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Berkeleys precious historic fabric is eroding before our eyes, and the City is doing nothing about it.

Designated landmarks, legally protected by the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, are routinely mutilated with no official scrutiny or counter-measures.

Take the case of the John Woolley House at 2509 Haste Street. Built in 1876, this Italianate-style Victorian is the second oldest structure on the Southside and a City of Berkeley Landmark.

After many years of neglect, the Woolley House found guardian angels in John Gordon and Janis Mitchell, whose plan to preserve and relocate it to their lot at Dwight Way and Regent Street was approved by the City. Acquired from Ken Sarachan, the Woolley House is to be moved this Saturday and will join the landmark Blood House, which was moved from 2526 Durant Avenue in mid-August.

John Gordon, of Gordon Commercial Real Estate Services, is known for having rescued many historic structures in Berkeley. He spent over seven years waiting for the Woolley House and hired architectural firm Siegel & Strain to document it. Preservation architect Burton Edwards created the plans for restoring the two houses at the new site, and Kaufman Construction, experienced in rehabbing old structures, is the general contractor.

Gordon is away until December 1; his supervisor tells us that the firm took care to save all the trim from the Woolley House. Nevertheless, nobody was on site to observe when Sarachans crew dismantled the large west-facing bay windowan important character-defining featureand discarded the materials on the ground as trash.

Its not clear whether Gordon or his consultants ever photographed the Woolley House or made detailed drawings that would enable them to replicate the lost window. When the Blood House was delivered without its roof, Gordon confessed to not having any drawings of the discarded roof.

Meanwhile, contractor Marty Kaufman determined that the tiny Bonnet Box shop building at 2506 Dwight Way could not be moved whole to its intended new location behind the Blood House. It is not clear whether the City was alerted before Kaufmans crew dismantled the Bonnet Box, saving only the siding. When reconstructed, this 111-year-old (or older) structure will be brand new. If all goes well, it will wear an old coat, but I wouldnt place any bets on this happening.

The City of Berkeley has a lengthy and costly permit process. On paper, at least, it requires projects involving historic properties to apply the Secretary of the Interiors Standards for the treatment of such properties.

The Secretarys second standard states: The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The replacement of intact or repairable historic materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.

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Woolley House Dismantled Yesterday: Berkeley Needs a Preservation Czar (Public Comment)

In June, Glen Carbon Public Works Coordinator Mike Govreau announced he would be retiring.

The Glen Carbon Village Board accepted his letter of resignation, and Govreaus last day is tentatively set for April 30, 2015.

With this in mind, the Glen Carbon Village Board is beginning the process to find a replacement for Govreau.

Several months ago, we announced that Mr. Govreau had announced his retirement from the public works coordinator position and we have an award package and memo from Mr. (Jamie) Bowden discussing the possible options available and the action item tonight actually involves the advertisement for the position, Glen Carbon Mayor Rob Jackstadt said.

In a memorandum to the mayor and trustees, Village Administrator Jamie Bowden presented three options the board could pursue. They are: to hire from within the village, combine or assign duties of the public works coordinator to the village administrator and building and zoning administrator or solicit an ad to the public and hire from a list of applicants.

The option that I think is in the best interest to the village is to solicit to the public and see what is out there from the qualified pool. If we have internal candidates, they can apply and then we can see how they stack up against the pool, Bowden said.

Following this course of action, Bowden said one thing that needs to be addressed is the salary.

Currently, Govreaus base salary is $64,770 and Bowdens recommendation for a salary to be advertised is $66,000 to $74,000.

Trustee Brooke Harmony said she thought $66,000 was too low and would like to see the bottom come up to $70,000 in order to try to attract higher quality candidates.

She also addressed the title of public works coordinator, which she said felt like it sounded like a secretarial position.

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Village eyes options for public works post

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Typically siding doesn't require too much repair. When installed and maintained properly, your homes siding should last quite some time. However, this isn't to say damage won't happen. Siding repairs are a given for virtually any home, its just a matter of how frequently and how costly they will be.

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Even though the house was fairly new, the original builder did not save any scraps of siding, nor did he leave any indication of what manufacturer made the siding. This is a very common scenario with houses built on speculation... no spare parts and no info.

Vinyl siding is surprisingly easy to remove. I would dare to say that I could "undo" the siding on a 1500 square foot house in a day, two at most. Once the top-most piece has been removed to expose the nailing strip of the section below, it's just a matter of pulling nails.

Of course, the lip in question belongs to the siding panel above the section being replaced, as this upper panel covers the nails of the target section.

This notch makes it easy to insert the siding removal tool.

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Replace A Section Of Damaged, Cracked, Or Broken Vinyl Siding

Tim Fehr, mechanical engineer for Shive Hattery, and Doug Ziegler, project manager for Carl A. Nelson & Co., gave the Mid-Prairie Community School Board a challenging message Monday current construction costs are pushing the estimated price for the Middle School expansion and renovation past the original estimate of $4.4 million. With a 10 percent contingency addition to handle any design changes and a possible costlier bidding environment, the figure increases to between $4.6 and $4.7 million. Board members expressed apprehension that this might be a forewarning that the other building projects included in the $10.6 million bond issue could come in over budget.

The original cost estimates for the Middle School were HVAC (heating, ventilation and air condition) geothermal system and window replacement $2.9 million; new computer/technology room and remodel current room for special education $400,000; and space equal to four classrooms for Home School Assistance Program $1.1 million.

Ziegler said they had been meeting with the school-created teams of local stakeholders in the facilities and had so far found ways to trim costs from $4.29 million to $4.24 million (not including contingency figure) . He noted that cuts were being chosen to not impair the educational utilization of the facility. He said that the major construction in Iowa City estimated at $2 billion is affecting the market.

Construction at the Middle School involves installing a geothermal heating and cooling system and replacing all the windows, constructing classrooms, a Parent Resource Center and offices for the Home School Assistance Program, and constructing a new computer lab and renovating the existing computer lab for a Special Education classroom.

The current drawings for the Middle School addition on the north side included an irregular roofline to match the current building. The board agreed to do away with the stepping, which will save an estimated $20,000.

Board member Jeremy Statler suggested not using brick siding for the new Middle School addition, but a brick wainscot with steel siding as a cost saving measure. Board President Jim Hussey said it might be a hard sale to the community and it was late in the day to make such a major design change. Ziegler added that masonry, with regular maintenance, had an average life of 80 to 90 years, compared with steel that began losing its finish in 20 years and structural integrity in 30 years. The board did not approve the change.

Jeremy Pickard observed that the $140,000 cut they approved still left a $483,000 overrun. Ziegler said that that amount had already been reduced and they would continue to pursue other reductions. By bidding the $10.6 million project in smaller packages, Ziegler said, smaller contractors would be able to bid, which means more competitive bidding. He also noted that when Fairfield rebidded its building project because of too high of bids, they came in $1 million lower the second time.

The other projects and their estimated cost for the bond issue include installing air conditioning for the entire Washington Township Elementary building $200,000; construction an additional preschool classroom and renovating the existing preschool classroom at the Kalona Elementary School $1.1 million; constructing two additional kindergarten classrooms and renovating existing kindergarten classrooms for special education classroom at the Wellman Elementary School $900,000; relocating the main office to existing art classroom, constructing an addition for the new art classroom and Family Consumer Science lab; renovating the existing Family and Consumer Science lab for the special education classroom at the High School $1.7 million; an alternative learning center and central administration offices as new construction $2.1 million; and bonding costs and attorney fees $240,000.

Fehr and Ziegler observed that the overrun at the Middle School was mainly attributed to the major HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), which would not be as major a factor at the other school buildings.

Board Vice President George Schaefer took over the meeting after Hussey had to leave, where he had a mildly contentious discussion with parents of Wellman elementary students. It dealt with bus pickup spots around the town.

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School construction estimates higher