Old Hendu was in the house last night watching a seminal moment in Rays’ history.  His professional, well-educated take? The Rays are “weird.”  Seriously.

Read his column here.

Here is my favorite part of Henderson’s column:

“The Rays are not a classic team by any stretch, but they do some things better than any club in recent memory. For all the angst about their offense, no one manufactures runs like these guys. Manager Joe Maddon will bunt at any time. Their speed can turn a walk into a double or triple, and for all the grief Maddon gets from fans about his constant game of lineup roulette it somehow keeps working out.”

So wait.  The Rays are not a classic team because they manufacture runs using offensive weapons like speed, bunting, and favorable lineup matchups.  Read those three things again.  Aren’t those the “classic” ways teams scored runs throughout the entire pre-Canseco-McGwire-Sosa-Bonds-BALCO era?

Basically, Hendu thinks the Rays aren’t a “classic” team because they score runs in the “classic” ways.  Weird.