Cubs say its time for them to become the grinders

After losing 8-7 to the White Sox Saturday and falling back under .500 at 35-36, the Cubs say there is only one thing to do: keep grinding.

"Yeah, it's like we win a couple and we lose a couple," said starting pitcher Ryan Dempster. "We just got to get on a little bit of a roll and find a way to win. We did it. We won four in a row, and we kind of stopped ourselves a little bit. Hopefully, we just win a series, come out here to win tomorrow, win a series and keep going."

Dempster hasn't dented the win column since May 30.

"Just keep plugging away," he said. "Today was frustrating for me."

The Cubs now have lost five of six after that four-game winning streak. They're also feeling the absences of injured third baseman Aramis Ramirez and reliever Angel Guzman.

"We're missing it," said manager Lou Piniella. "Every time that we seem to feel that we're putting something together the way we like it, something happens here. It's been the (darndest) thing I've ever seen from that standpoint. We got other people that have to step up and do the job.

"Every game we play seems like it's a 1-run game. We've played so many close games. We're going to get on a streak. It's just a question of when and how soon. But, we got to get healthy. You can see how hard it is to win baseball games. It's not easy."

Marmol matters: Pitching coach Larry Rothschild and reliever Carlos Marmol met at a clubhouse table Saturday and looked at pictures of Marmol's delivery.

Rothschild says he has been looking at side-by-side videos of Marmol's delivery to determine why he has walking so many batters.

"We're looking at little things to help with his breaking ball," Rothschild said.

Marmol did not walk a batter Saturday, but he did give up 2 hits and a run in 1 inning.

Minor matters: Right-hander Jeff Samardzija ran his record to 5-3 with a 3.72 ERA Friday for Class AAA Iowa. Samardzija gave up 8 hits and 3 runs while walking two and striking out five. Samardzija has won 2 in a row, having given up 3 runs over 15 innings.

Reliever Jeff Stevens extended his scoreless-innings streak to 41/3.

At Class A Daytona, fast-rising shortstop Starlin Castro, 19, drove in a season-high 5 runs.