This bat would have been big

If these are the glory days for the Angels, why can’t we shake that vaguely unsatisfying feeling about them?

They win. They sell out. They repeat the process every summer. It’s quality entertainment, and the annual run usually extends into October.

And that’s fine, as far as it goes. But if you don’t change the ending, you risk losing the audience.

That’s why the Angels should have been the team on stage here Wednesday, proudly announcing the acquisition of Miguel Cabrera. The Angels can’t get back to the World Series without getting past the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers, and Cabrera would have put their offense on equal footing with those three powers, not just next year but in years to come.

The Tigers tore up their minor league system to get Cabrera. The Angels preserved their assets and passed.

So did the Dodgers, and properly so. If the Dodgers can win their first playoff series in 20 years, that’s progress. And, with their membership in the National League, neither giants nor Giants block their path to the World Series.

The Angels are the perennial winners in town now. Images change: When the Angels hired Mike Scioscia as manager seven years ago, they were perennial losers. Now their fans measure them against the Red Sox and Yankees, not the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers.

“The perception of our club and, I think, what our fans have come to expect, has grown dramatically from when we first came here,” Scioscia said.

The first World Series championship, in 2002. The first back-to-back division championships. For the first time, three consecutive winning seasons, and then four.

But the Angels have yet to return to the World Series, their offensive shortcomings against elite pitching evident in playoff defeats in 2004, in 2005 and again this year. Scioscia and Bill Stoneman, the general manager that hired him, rebuilt the Angels in the image of the Atlanta Braves, and painfully well so far: Lots of playoff appearances, one championship.

No disrespect to Torii Hunter, but Cabrera was the guy the Angels needed. With Cabrera and Vladimir Guerrero, the Angels would have featured two of the top five hitters in baseball, a 1-2 punch to rival Boston’s David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

“Well, there’s more than one way to win a game,” Scioscia said. “Our team continues to be based on our pitchers. I think we’re going to be deeper in our area of pitching.

“Maybe you don’t have as dynamic a 1-2 punch as Ortiz and Ramirez -- or [Magglio] Ordonez and Cabrera in Detroit, and [Gary] Sheffield -- but our offense has the ability to score runs and do what we need to do. I think we’re going to pitch better than we did, and that should give us an opportunity.”

The Red Sox swept the Angels last fall, en route to the World Series championship. A question for Tony Reagins, the new general manager: Do you believe your team can beat the Red Sox now?

He paused, a long pause, choosing his words carefully.

“We’ll play them hard,” Reagins said. “We’ll compete.”

Reagins said he liked the Angels’ chances against Boston so long as Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr. were blessed with good health.

But Anderson is 35, Matthews 33 and Guerrero 31, and injuries have nagged all three in recent seasons.

Hunter, on whom the Angels just lavished $90 million, is 32. Cabrera is 24, with statistics at his age comparable to Hank Aaron.

The Angels could be right, of course. Maybe Howie Kendrick and Casey Kotchman blossom at bat. Maybe, with the money they would have spent on a contract extension for Cabrera, they can extend Guerrero and closer Francisco Rodriguez. Maybe, with the pitching depth they did not trade for Cabrera, they withstand a series of injuries.

Maybe the Angels go three and out again next October.

“You want to put yourself in position to get to the postseason and get to the World Series,” Reagins said. “History has shown, if you play well at the right times, you can get to where your goals are.”

And then he paused again, tired for the moment of hearing about the Red Sox and Yankees and Tigers.

“Those teams have to play the Angels too,” he said.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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In the middle

Projected heart of the order for top American League teams, with 2007 statistics:

*--* ANGELS HR RBI BA SLG Guerrero 27 125 324 547 Anderson 16 80 297 492 Hunter 28 107 287 505 TOTALS 71 312 303 517 RED SOX HR RBI BA SLG Ortiz 35 117 332 621 Ramirez 20 88 296 493 Lowell 21 120 324 501 TOTALS 76 325 318 539 YANKEES HR RBI BA SLG Abreu 16 101 283 445 Rodriguez 54 156 314 645 Posada 20 90 338 543 TOTALS 90 347 310 543 TIGERS HR RBI BA SLG Cabrera 34 119 320 565 Ordonez 28 139 363 595 Sheffield 25 75 265 462 TOTALS 87 333 319 545 *--*