"For one day — and certainly an oddly timed day given the Texans hangover, the Rockets' seven-game winning streak and just the simple fact it's January — Houston was a baseball town again.

The Astros' relenting on their ban of outside food, lowering of ticket prices, and proclamation of an open mind on the future of the uniforms and even the 47-year-old team name had the town abuzz.

Headlines were about the Astros. Airtime was given to the Astros. Social media were blowing up on the topic of the Astros, with 819 comments on the team's Facebook page by 7 p.m. Tuesday, coinciding with upticks in the interactive portions of the Chronicle's own Astros content.

The main issue: Those six little letters. A-S-T-R-O-S."