MET NOTES

PORT ST. LUCIE – Umpire Joe West and Bobby Valentine have had a running dialogue lately, and the Mets skipper doesn’t like the direction the talk is taking.

West alerted Valentine last weekend in Jupiter that right-hander Satoru Komiyama has an illegal hesitation at the beginning of his wind-up. When West came to work yesterday’s 7-2 Mets loss, he followed up with Valentine before the game.

According to Valentine, West received a clarification from his superiors that Komiyama’s wind-up was in fact in breach of rule 8.01, which said a wind-up must have continuous motion. Since the Japanese pitcher doesn’t gain a competitive advantage from his brief stop, the Met manager wants West to be corrected.

“That rule has been in the garbage can for 10 years,” Valentine said. “What kind of [bleep] is this?”

Valentine didn’t explain the rule situation to Komiyama yesterday; he simply told the righty he wanted to see him work exclusively from the stretch. Komiyama allowed three hits and two earned runs in two innings, betrayed by a defense that was subpar.

When told of the situation, Komiyama didn’t seem flustered. He said he could make a mechanical adjustment in his delivery to alleviate the problem if necessary, and joked, “Maybe [pitching from the stretch] is against the rules.”

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The Mets claimed switch-hitting outfielder Chris Latham from the Blue Jays and first baseman Andy Tracy from the Expos. Tracy, who went 1-for-31 in spring training with Montreal, was optioned to Triple A Norfolk.

Latham will join the Mets today, but is unlikely to make the team.

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The Mets will honor Lisa Beamer on Opening Day. Beamer’s husband, Todd, died aboard Flight 93 on Sept. 11 after thwarting an apparent terrorist attack on Washington D.C.