Carlos Santana providing pop as he tries to shake the blues

Carlos Santana has certainly picked up the tempo.

And that’s a sweet sound for a Phillies ballclub that’s accomplished a lot despite a conspicuous silence noise from its prized free agent signing from the offseason.

Going into Friday’s game against the New York Mets, the Phillies boasted 22 wins, a total they hadn’t reached last season until June 18 and marked the team’s fastest start since 2011.

Not bad when you consider one of the lineup’s big boppers still has failed to clear the Mendoza line.

The 32-year-old, switch-hitting slugger began to change that tune during a four-game series with the San Francisco Giants earlier this week.

Santanta is coming off one of the best performances in a single series in franchise history after collecting 13 RBIs in the four-game set against San Francisco. According to Elias, only Mike Schmidt and Cliff Lee (no, not that one), had as many RBIs in a series of any length in 1979 and 1922, respectively.

The RBI breakout raised his season total to 26, two off the team lead set by Maikel Franco. He’s also scored 24 runs, three back of Cesar Hernandez.

That's the good news. The bad news is a .191 batting average and .714 OPS, but those numbers are likely to trend up.

Nobody around the team, especially the Santana, was singing the blues about the cold start.

It was only a matter of time before he found his groove.

The first baseman is a notoriously slow starter and, according to FanGraphs, owns an unlucky .183 BABIP, which ranks 170th in MLB and well below even his career-worst of .249 in 2014.

Over his last 10 games where he has moved from the No. 2 slot to the heart of the order, Santana is hitting .333 (10-for-30) with four homers and 15 RBIs, including three homers in in his last four contests.

Going into the weekend series, Santana collected an extra-base hit in each of the last seven games and leads the majors with eight extra-base hits since May 4.

That’s the type of production the Phillies were hoping for when they signed Santana to a 3-year, $60-million deal in December.

While it seemed like an odd signing at the time, one that would shift Rhys Hoskins to left field on a full-time basis, the arrival of Santana proved the club was ready to take the next step toward playing meaningful baseball in autumn.

And outside of maybe Maikel Franco, Santana is one of the biggest keys in the lineup. With his power, ability to get on base and a switch hitter, the Phillies lineup shows some real depth.

Santana also provides a strong veteran presence with his experience on three playoff teams with Cleveland, including the 2016 squad which went to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

One aspect of Santana’s game that has been constantly in tune has been his glove work as he’s proven to be a huge  defensive upgrade at first base.

For a stocky guy, he’s quickly shown to be pretty nimble around the bag. His best play might have come on Thursday with by a tremendous diving stop on San Francisco’s Kelby Tomlinson to rob him of extra bases, then beating him to the bag for the out.

Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was singing the praises of Santana’s glovework after Thursday’s game, saying he wanted to start the Gold Glove conversation early.

Santana has played in every one of the Phillies' 38 games this season and had one error in the first 37 for a .997 fielding percentage.

Santana was a finalist for the Gold Glove award last season with the Cleveland Indians and earned Wilson’s Defensive Player of the Year for all first baseman in MLB. He committed just five errors in 1,155 changes and led all American League first baseman with 95 assists.

Santana has the ability to carry a team with a hot stretch and it's a tune the Phillies would love to continue to hear.

Injury updates

Jerad Eickhoff (right lat ) and Mark Leiter Jr. (right forearm) will continue to throw in extended spring training in Clearwater, Florida. Kapler said Leiter would throw on Saturday and Eickhoff on Monday.

Victor Arano (right rotator cuff)  threw 26 pitches in a bullpen session while J.P. Crawford did some fielding drills with light throwing along with some tee work.

Adam Morgan (back) could have a bullpen session on Sunday while Pat Neshek (right shoulder) isn't going to pick up a baseball for another week.

Tom McGurk; @McGurkSports; (856) 486-2420; tmcgurk@gannett.com