Relaxed Joey Gallo having a better time with Dodgers

The Dodgers' Joey Gallo gestures after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning of the team's game against the Brewers on Aug. 16 in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Aaron Gash
Joey Gallo showed up at Citi Field on Tuesday night with a beard. He smiled and joked around behind the batting cage during Dodgers batting practice.
And he came into the game against the Mets batting above .200.
Those are three things Gallo wasn’t allowed to do (the beard), didn’t do (smile) and wasn’t able to do (hit above .200) when he played for the Yankees.
But Gallo was liberated from his pinstriped purgatory when the Yankees dealt him to the World Series-favorite Dodgers at the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
Gallo went into Tuesday’s game against the Mets batting .205 (9-for-44) with three home runs and seven RBIs in 12 games with the Dodgers.
He hit fifth in the order on Tuesday and went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and a run-scoring hit by pitch before being removed for a pinch hitter in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory.
Gallo is hitless in his last 11 at-bats. He has struck out 22 times in his first 56 Dodgers plate appearances.
But the reports about him seeming happier and more relaxed in L.A. are spot on. After the game, he even made a joke when asked if he’d like to play the Yankees in the World Series.
“It’d be nice — I’d get a ring either way,” he said with a smile. “My chances there go up a little bit. I want the best for those guys. I love those guys. Just because I got traded doesn’t mean I have any hard feelings for any of them. They work their butts off, just like we do over here, and just from a personal standpoint I hope the best for them as well. I don’t have any hard feelings. It’d be exciting, obviously, to play them.”
Since being acquired from Texas on July 29, 2021, Gallo appeared in 140 games as a Yankee. He hit .159 with 25 home runs and 46 RBIs and had an incredible 194 strikeouts in 501 plate appearances.
Gallo was open in his final days as a Yankee that he desperately wanted out of New York. He claimed he was reluctant to venture out of his apartment because he didn’t want to be recognized on the street. He was booed during each fruitless at-bat at Yankee Stadium.
He was also booed by Mets fans on Tuesday for some unknown reason.
Gallo said he has no problem with the Yankees players or organization. In fact, he’s still close with his former teammates and on Tuesday reached out to Aaron Judge to congratulate him on hitting his 50th homer.
“Sometimes a change of scenery helps,” Gallo said. “There’s nothing the Yankees were doing wrong. I just didn’t play well there. I wish I played better. My time was up there. It’s been a nice transition.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked if he thinks Gallo had something to prove in this series in his return to New York, even though it’s Queens and not the Bronx.
“You know what? I hope not,” Roberts said. “I know that we’re excited about Joey with us in a Dodgers uniform.”
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