Gresh and Zo kick off Thursday’s show talking some Boston Red Sox.

With the unofficial second half of the season set to begin Friday night for Boston, and injured stars Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford set to rejoin the team, Gresh and Zo wonder how much these Red Sox can improve moving forward.

“Bottom line is no pitcher is coming back. Those two guys (Beckett and Lester) who are 12-20 really need to get on fire, and I don’t see anything that is trending that way,” said Zolak. ”The pitching is a problem, it’s going to continue to be a problem, and they have good teams coming in here before the deadline at the end of the month. You’re going to know what this team is in the next two weeks.”

Roche: Second Half Hinges On Rotation

“The starting pitching is the problem,” said Gresh. “It’s crazy to think, for once, a Red Sox GM built a bullpen in the offseason that has performed really well. It seemed like year after year Theo Epstein had to make moves for relievers at the deadline to shore up the bullpen. What (Ben) Cherington did worked in terms of the bullpen, but it’s been the starters that let them down.”

How do the Red Sox compare with other teams vying for playoff sports in the American League?

“When you look at the talent that is in Tampa, Toronto, Baltimore, Cleveland, even the Chicago White Sox, (the Red Sox) are better than them. The Tigers and Angles, you can give the nod to he Red Sox,” said Gresh. “They have everything coming together that could be a reason for them to push and surge forward. They’ve had guys who you didn’t expect to perform perform to keep them in it.”

Read: Lester IS Happy In Boston

With a few players taking to Twitter to defend themselves against “fans,” the two actually see some passion and life in this team.

“They can point to the enemy, but they’ve had reasons to rally around each other. Now with more people coming back, and a fan base that is ‘itchy,’” said Gresh. “Every element is there for the Red Sox to surge. Yet I don’t know how many people are convinced they are going to.”

“They have three weeks to captivate your hearts (before Patriots training camp), or go into obscurity,” said Zolak.