ANAHEIM, Calif.(AP) -- Now that he's healthy again, Joe Saunders
is starting to look like the same pitcher who got off to such a
terrific start last season.

And the timing couldn't be better for the Los Angeles Angels.

Saunders won his fourth straight outing since coming off the
disabled list, Bobby Abreu drove in two runs without the benefit
of a hit and the Angels beat the Chicago White Sox 7-1 on Friday
night.

"It's like night and day, besides the results," said Saunders,
who missed 17 games last month because of irritation in his
shoulder. "I feel strong. I feel good, I feel confident, and
I've turned the page. I'm way past the injury and the DL stint,
and I'm ready to go through the stretch."

Saunders (13-7) allowed just three hits over seven innings,
struck out three and retired his final 15 batters after Jayson
Nix homered leading off the third. The left-hander has a 1.85
ERA over his last four outings, after a stretch of eight starts
in which he was 1-3 with a 9.63 ERA.

Saunders escaped a jam in the second, turning a comebacker by
Alex Rios into an inning-ending double play with two men on. It
was a key moment because the on-deck hitter was Nix, who hit a
pair of solo homers against Saunders the last time they faced
each other on May 26 at Anaheim.

Nix got to Saunders again in the rematch with a towering drive
into the lower seats in the left-field corner for his 12th homer
of the season. It ended a 2-for-19 slump by the White Sox's No.
9 hitter, who is second among AL rookies in home runs, two
behind Baltimore's Nolan Reimold.

"Honestly, I don't even remember when I'm out there what
everybody's done to me. I'm going out there and pitching my game
regardless of who's up there and going after them," Saunders
said. "Nix was looking to drive the ball, and it was just the
wrong pitch at the wrong time."

Vladimir Guerrero and Maicer Izturis each had two RBIs as the
Angels' fourth straight win and seventh in eight games increased
their AL West lead to 5 1/2 over the Texas Rangers, whose
scheduled home game against Seattle was rained out. The Angles
are a season-best 30 games over .500 and are vying for their
fifth division title in six years.

"The Angels are always going to compete. They're always going to
be in the pennant race. They're always going to be in the hunt,"
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They've got a great
organization, so it's no surprise."

Angels starters have allowed no more than one earned run in 10
of the team's last 13 games, including John Lackey's five-hit
shutout Thursday night against Seattle.

"You try to match what everybody else is doing out there,"
Saunders said. "It was hard to match what John did last night,
obviously, but we're all throwing the ball great right now and
we're just going to try to keep it going as long as we can."

Gavin Floyd (11-10) gave up five runs and six hits over five
innings. The 26-year-old right-hander got through eight innings
in each of his two previous starts against the Angels this
season.

Coming off a three-game sweep of the Mariners, a team with the
best ERA in the AL, the Angels went up against a pitching staff
with the league's second-best ERA and grabbed a 2-0 lead in the
first inning on Abreu's run-scoring groundout and Guerrero's RBI
single.

The Angels increased the margin to 5-1 with three runs in the
fifth. Izturis, who came in 2 for 14 against Floyd, lined a
two-run double. Abreu followed with a sacrifice fly.

Scott Linebrink gave up the Angels' final two runs in the
eighth, an RBI single by Guerrero and an RBI double by Juan
Rivera.

The defending AL Central champion White Sox remained six games
out of first place because of Detroit's loss to Toronto. They
have 20 games remaining, and six of their final nine will be
against the Tigers.

"Obviously we want them to lose, but we have to worry about us
winning games," Guillen said. "Hopefully when we face them,
we're close enough to compete against them and aren't too far
behind them. That's the main thing. That's all you can ask."

NOTES: Saunders is 24-3 in 32 career starts in which he's
pitched at least seven innings. ... A.J. Pierzynski, who still
gets showered with boos every time he comes to bat at Angel
Stadium because of his role in the 2005 ALCS, has no RBIs in his
last 47 at-bats against the Halos going back to last season.