ANAHEIM – The ball he struck kept carrying, carrying, carrying deep down the left-field line, and then Jose Reyes raised his right fist in jubilation about midway between first and second.

He didn’t put his arm down until he passed second base, showing the enthusiasm of a 20-year-old rookie – and perhaps the flair of a future superstar.

Reyes’ first major-league homer was a second-inning grand slam, and it propelled the Mets to an 8-0 victory over Anaheim yesterday afternoon.

“That’s another great moment in my life,” Reyes said.

Told he’s had a lot of great moments in his life recently, Reyes smiled, said, “Yeah,” and laughed along with a group of reporters.

The reason the Mets didn’t recall Reyes sooner – and initially didn’t envision his sticking in the big leagues after this two-week cup of coffee – is patience. They don’t want to rush him, but mainly they want the switch- hitter to be more selective at the plate.

Reyes showed patience during a 10-pitch at-bat against Angel lefty Jarrod Washburn that culminated in the grand slam.

“I knew he had some juice,” manager Art Howe said. “I actually said to Vern [Ruhle], ‘This would be a good time for his first grand slam.’ He said, ‘You called it.’ It was a great at-bat.”

Reyes took a ball and two called strikes before fouling off two pitches. He then took two close pitches for balls, including a borderline 2-and-2 pitch that had the home crowd groaning, before fouling off two more Washburn offerings.

Finally, he found something he could handle, an 88 mph fastball. Reyes pulled it down the left-field line, and it kept carrying as Garret Anderson tracked back and looked up. The ball stayed fair and landed several rows into the seats as the shortstop took in the moment.

“What’s he been in the big leagues, a week?” Jason Phillips asked. “Some guys go their entire career without a grand slam. He got that out of the way early.”

Phillips, Vance Wilson and Tsuyoshi Shinjo waited for him at home as he made his fast jog, and he received their congratulations before comically running past them and into the dugout.

“He was smiling from ear to ear, he was so excited,” Phillips said.

Reyes was the second Met to smash a grand slam as his first major-league homer. Pitcher Jack Hamilton was the other, back on May 20, 1967.

Reyes also singled in the fifth and then stole his first career base, singled in the sixth and hit an RBI groundout in the eighth.