When did we become the Yankees?

Lately, I've found myself wondering. When the payroll skyrocketed, I was mostly pretty happy. We'd been waiting for the Tigers to cut loose with some cash since, well, since Juan Gone thankfully turned it down. But as the season approached and I looked at where the Tigers were in spending, I began to feel some pangs of regret. People were lumping our boys in with my two most dreaded teams, the Yanquis and the Red Sawx. Still, I was glad to have the players that we acquired, and it put it all behind me. Then there's the whole Brandon Inge thing. When did the Tigers players start thinking that they were bigger than the team? That settled down quite a bit, but now Sheff is running off at the mouth about what's best for Sheff. Guillen (shockingly) is starting to talk about what he wants. It's become much more about what the players seem to want, and I think it's starting to show in the way that they work (or don't work) together. The final straw to me is the series of recent actions by ownership/management. The Tigers I knew left Mike Maroth out there long enough to lose 21 games. The Tigers of 2008 are a "must win" team. If they go a few days without kicking someone's ass, then the fans and the media call for someone's head. I can handle being a fan of a losing team. Heck, I've been a Tigers fan since the mid-sixties, I'm used to be a fan of a losing team. But I can't handle being a fan of the Yankees. I can't handle being a fan of a team that has no patience and no chemistry. So please Jimmy, Donny, Mikey. Let's relax and remember that this is a game, and these are the Tigers. Maybe taking the pressure off will actually help.