Don't say the Astros lack irony

A nasty, scandal-filled week in the Houston Fire Department was topped off Friday by the Houston Astros, who celebrated the greatness of the HFP by visiting local firehouses before taking the field Friday night wearing Houston Fire caps.

Nine Astros visited 9 Houston firehouses before the game. Astros outfield Hunter Pence, #9 in your program, for example, visited Station House 9 (note the symmetry?)

Is there a #54 on the team roster?

Let's look ...Nope, no #54.

So we assume Station House 54 didn't get a visit from a real, live Astros player (that's center fielder Michael Bourn in the photo above.)

Whew, that was close.

Station House 54, at Bush Intercontinental Airport, is where racist graffitti ("Die Nigger," etc.) was discovered and reported to the appropriate leaders.

Things only grew worse after that, not only for the city's self-promoted reputation as a happy melting pot of multicultural diversity, but for the mayor, who was getting pressure to bring in the feds to solve the problem.

Instead, Mayor White said he wants to bring in a consultant.

The mayor wasn't wearing a Fire Department cap when he said this, but the Astros were Friday night.

There wasn't a word about the Fire Department mess and the weird timing of the Astros' Fire Department promotion during the TV broadcast on Fox Sports Houston. Maybe Milo Hamilton touched on it during the radio broadcast, putting his signature positive spin on the affair, but I didn't have the radio on so I don't know.