The Angels' faith in Kendry Morales was clear a year ago when they made the trade for first baseman Mark Teixeira. Owner Arte Moreno said at the time that he was comfortable dealing for the free agent-to-be because the Angels' talent evaluators assured him Morales was ready to step in at the big-league level this season.

They were certainly right about that. But Morales' performance in his first full season at the major-league level has exceeded all reasonable expectations.

Morales is among the league leaders in home runs (30), RBIs (98), slugging percentage (.575) and extra-base hits (72).

"In our conversations this spring, just for fun, we did play around with some numbers. But what Kendry is doing right now is not a surprise," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of the expectations for Morales. "I don't think he's exceeding what his talent can do. This is his potential. The fact that it's come together in his first go-round is -- I'm not going to say surprising. It's very satisfying to see a kid play to his potential."

Morales has gotten stronger as the season progressed. His defense at first base has improved, and he's leading the A.L. with 48 RBIs since the All-Star break. He has hits in 25 of his past 33 games.

ANGELS 7, WHITE SOX 1: LHP Joe Saunders took his turn in the run of quality starts from Angels pitchers and did his part. Saunders allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings as the Angels won for the seventh time in their past eight games. Angels pitchers have allowed just 16 runs total in those eight games. With the Rangers rained out, the Angels' lead in the A.L. West swelled to 5-1/2 games.

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