A blooper to right, an inexperienced outfielder and Jose Reyes‘s speed became a messy combination for the Oakland Athletics.

Reyes led off the bottom of the first inning with a popup down the line that Jack Cust, normally a designated hitter, couldn’t run down. Reyes stretched it into a double and Cust’s throw to second sailed into left field. Reyes, who went into second headfirst, scrambled to his feet and scored on the twobase error.

It was downhill from there for Oakland. The Mets sailed to a 10–2 victory behind John Maine yesterday to complete their first series sweep at home since last August.

“It was kind of a crazy play,” Reyes said. “You’re not prepared to run like that. I was out of gas.”

Reyes didn’t slide at the plate even though the throw was coming in from left field. He said he saw the slide sign from on-deck batter Paul Lo Duca, but was too tired to do it. The throw, luckily for Reyes, was off line.

“He said, ‘Down! Down!’ but I was going standing up,” Reyes said. “When I got to the dugout the guys were laughing at me because I was so tired.”

They might have been laughing, but no one in the Mets’ clubhouse would deny how much their catalyst means to the team.

“He just caused havoc,” Lo Duca said. “I mean, he hit a blooper and it turned into a run. He’s unbelievable.”

New York has won three straight for the first time since winning four in a row May 25-29 against Florida and San Francisco. It was their first series sweep since late May at Florida, and the first at Shea Stadium since August 22–24 against St. Louis.

The Mets scored in double digits for the first time since May 19 when they beat the Yankees 10–7.

The Athletics have lost six of eight and were swept in a series of three or more games for the first time since last June 30 to July 2 against Arizona. Oakland was outscored 20-3 in the series.

“It was kind of really the first series where we just got beat,” Athletics manager Bob Geren said. “There were other series where we lost a game or something, but we were in the game. In this series, we weren’t.”

In their first trip to Shea Stadium since beating the Mets in the 1973 World Series, the Athletics struggled to hit in the clutch. The A’s went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position Sunday and 1-for-15 in the series. They came into Sunday last in the majors in that situation, hitting .224.

Maine pitched seven solid innings and Jose Valentin had three hits, including a three-run homer. Damion Easley hit a two-run double, Reyes added three hits and an RBI, and rookie Carlos Gomez got three hits to match his career high.

The Mets improved to 7–14 in June. In their seven wins, they have allowed five total runs. They are 0-14 this month when allowing three runs or more.

Maine (8–4) allowed two runs and five hits, striking out six without a walk.