The Bronx Rules

Pedro knows the rules.

“I have to be in bed at 11 pm,” he explained. “My mother doesn’t care about the inning or the score.”

That’s the way it is when you’re 12 years old.

“I used to have a little radio,” Pedro said, “but she caught me listening to the game and I can’t have it in my bedroom anymore.”

He watched the first eight innings of last night’s game on television in his Gerard Avenue apartment just four blocks from Yankee Stadium.

“I had to go to bed when it was really getting good,” Pedro said. “The best I could do was open my bedroom window so I could hear the crowd. The roar told me they won, but I had to wait for fans to start walking past the building to find out how they did it.

“I yelled down and someone told me that Brett Gardner won the game,” he continued. “I wish I could’ve seen that.”