Mattingly believes in life after Stanton: 'We know we're good enough'

The Miami Marlins don't really have a choice.

If Don Mattingly's club wants to make it to the playoffs, they're going to have to do it without their slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

"In the past on this team, it’s kind of been Giancarlo and his band of other little guys with him,” Mattingly told reporters Sunday after news broke that Stanton was out for the season. “It’s no longer like that on this team. These guys have come into their own. Obviously, we know we’re not the same club without (Stanton) that we would be with him. But we know we’re good enough."

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On the final play of Saturday's game, Stanton tried to stretch a single into a double, and pulled up lame as he was thrown out to end the game. As the skipper went out to see his injured player, he knew right away it was serious.

"When I saw it it looked like he got shot,” Mattingly said. “It looked like what you see when guys have hamstring (injuries), they just pull up.

"I walked out with him after the game, and he was limping," he added. "Obviously, you knew that wasn’t a good sign.”

Because of the injury, Miami is forced to consider outside options. Most notably, the club appears to have hometown boy Alex Rodriguez on its radar, after he was released by the New York Yankees on Saturday.

As a contingency plan, the Marlins plan to utilize Ichiro in the outfield, giving the team a different dynamic than what opposing teams are used to seeing from Stanton.

“We’ll have a little different look with Ichiro in there with more speed, and he’ll put the ball in play a little more," Mattingly said. "It will be different, but we can get it done this way.”