5 things to watch as Mets and Cardinals play three-game set in St. Louis

Here are five things to watch as the Mets and Cardinals play a three-game series in St. Louis starting on Monday night...

The stolen base situation is out of hand

As the Mets squandered another game on Sunday in Tampa, the Rays ran all over them -- literally.

Tampa Bay swiped seven bases during Sunday's 10-inning win, basically stealing at will any time they wanted to. Second base, third base -- it didn't matter.

After the game, Mets catcher Omar Narvaez had this reaction about the steals:

"There's nothing we can say. We've just got to keep working."

As Narvaez, Tomas Nido, and the Mets' pitchers (most of whom didn't do much to keep runners close) were victimized by Tampa over the weekend, there were a number of instances where the jumps were so good that Mets catchers didn't even attempt to throw.

For the season, the Mets have now allowed 52 of 55 would-be base-stealers to reach safely.

If the current pace keeps up, the Mets will surrender 234 stolen bases by their 153rd game, which would be the most steals allowed by a team in a single season since 1956.

Pete Alonso looks out of sorts

The Mets have multiple issues at the moment, but Alonso's deep slump -- paired with the absence of Francisco Alvarez -- is crippling the offense.

Over his last 10 games, Alonso is 2-for-36 with 11 strikeouts.

And the biggest concern during this stretch is how poorly Alonso is seeing the ball.

He's been chasing wildly out of the strike zone, making very little hard contact, and hurting the Mets during really big spots -- including a bases-loaded double play on Sunday.

While Alonso's last 10 games have been a serious struggle, his power output has been down over the last three weeks, with just two home runs since April 14.

Edwin Diaz's fastball

Diaz has a vicious slider, so it's no surprise that he throws it a ton -- with tremendous effectiveness.

But with his fastball still a few ticks down this season (he's averaged 96.8 mph with the offering after averaging 99.1 mph with it in 2022), he's been even more slider-heavy than usual.

So far this season, Diaz is throwing his slider 59.6 percent of the time -- up a bit from 2022, when he threw it 58.1 percent of the time.

And it was a hanging slider that Randy Arozarena hit out of the ballpark to tie Sunday's game on a full count with two outs in the ninth inning.

Arozarena usually feasts on fastballs, but has been struggling so badly this season against all pitches that a fastball up in the zone against him on Sunday might have been a better option than the slider.

How will Jose Quintana bounce back?

After a solid start to the season, Quintana was hit very hard by the Rays on Friday night.

In just 2.2 innings, he allowed eight runs (all earned) on 10 hits while walking one and striking out two. In the process, his ERA ballooned from 3.48 to 5.20.

Friday's start was even more aberrational for Quintana when you consider that he was nearly untouchable his last time out before that, allowing one run on three hits in eight dominant innings against the Cardinals.

Quintana will get a second shot at the Cards when he takes the ball against Sonny Gray on Wednesday.

The Cardinals are scuffling

The Rays were 2-8 over their prior 10 games before they swept the Mets this past weekend -- something the Mets couldn't take advantage of.

Perhaps the Mets can take advantage of a struggling Cardinals team.

The Cards are coming off a series loss at home to the worst-in-the-majors Chicago White Sox, and have dropped four of their last five games.

Meanwhile, their two most important hitters -- Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt -- have still not found their groove, with the mashers combining for only four home runs this season.

It would behoove the Mets to take this series ahead of Thursday's day off, with the Atlanta Braves waiting for them at Citi Field on Friday when they return home.