Red Sox manager benches Pablo Sandoval for liking Instagram photo mid-game

Using social media to pick up women is a time-honored tradition for some of our country’s greatest athletes. Look no further than Cleveland Cavalier JR Smith, who slid into a Twitter follower’s mentions with the legendary line “You trying to get the pipe?” Or Paul Bissonnette, who told Sports Illustrated in 2013 that “once (women) start following you and you see they comment you, if they’re hot I just add them on Twitter,” saying he’s met up with a half-dozen or so. Generally, though, these fine and upstanding citizens avoid mention-sliding mid-game.

But not Pablo Sandoval! Well, we can’t say with 100 percent certainty that Pablo was sliding, but it is certainly possible he planned on utilizing the Instagram DM function after liking two of @diva_legacy’s photos in the middle of last night’s Red Sox game. Red Sox manager John Farrell chose to bench Sandoval for tonight’s game against the Atlanta Braves as a result, according to ESPN’s Gordon Edes:

It’s been a bummer of a year for the man they call “Kung Fu Panda.” After signing a five-year, $95 million contract in the offseason, Sandoval’s been pretty terrible across the board; his average hitting combined with bad defense and bad baserunning means he’s actually been worth negative wins this year, according to Fangraphs. That’s not good! And neither is using Instagram in the middle of the game. Win some, lose some, I guess.