Where would the Yankees be without the New York Rockies?

NEW YORK -- Maybe it's something in the low-altitude Bronx air. On the night the Colorado Rockies visited Yankee Stadium for the first time in four seasons, a trio of former Rockies showed up, showed out and proved why the New York Yankees felt it was smart to acquire all three of them earlier this year.

"It felt really good," current Yankees reliever and former Rockie Adam Ottavino said following New York's 8-2 win. "Everybody wants to perform well against familiar people."

These weren't just "familiar people" to Ottavino and fellow present-day Yankees DJ LeMahieu and Mike Tauchman, though. These were the folks who believed they could continue fielding a competitive team this season without…