Joey Gallo happy and thriving with Dodgers due to ‘laid back’ vibe

Joey Gallo was smiling. He was laughing. He was …. happy?

“Our vibe here is laid back, try to win games, try not to make it more than anything than just baseball,” the former Yankee said. “I think that’s been nice. It’s been good so far.”

Since being traded by the Yankees on Aug. 2, where he was benched after intense struggles and fan animosity, Gallo has performed well for the Dodgers — albeit in an extremely small sample size. He’s hitting .196/.339/.478 with an .818 OPS and three home runs and eight RBIs in 46 at-bats.

He was batting fifth for the team with the best record in the sport on Tuesday against the Mets, a sign of what the Dodgers think of the left-handed hitting slugger.

“They’ve seen some things they think they can make me better at,” Gallo said after the Dodgers’ 4-3 win. “It doesn’t happen overnight, but when I first got there to LA, it was, ‘Hey, we’re just going to work on the process with you and get you back to who you are and who you can be.’ ”

Very little, if anything, went right for Gallo with the Yankees after coming over from the Rangers prior to last year’s trade deadline. This season, he became an albatross, striking out 106 times in 233 trips to the plate while batting .159. He became the object of loud and frequent boos, and even said previously he didn’t want to show his face around the city.

“Sometimes a change of scenery helps,” Gallo said. “There was nothing the Yankees were doing wrong. I just didn’t play well there. I wish I played better.”

He did struggle in the Dodgers’ recent series with the Marlins, going 0-for-9 with four strikeouts, and was hitless Tuesday night but did get an RBI on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded. But the free agent-to-be has been far more productive with them than he was with the Yankees. Ironically, since acquiring Gallo, the Dodgers are 14-4 when he appears in a game while the Yankees have scuffled, managing an 8-16 mark heading into Tuesday’s game in Anaheim.

Gallo has kept tabs on them. He congratulated Aaron Judge on his 50th home run over text message on Tuesday and is rooting for his old teammates to do well. There is a chance Gallo can see them again this year, if both teams advance to the World Series. He wouldn’t mind a reunion.

“I get a ring either way,” he joked. “My chances there go up a little bit. I want the best for those guys. I love those guys over there. It would be exciting obviously to play them.”