Huh?

I just finished reading Bill Simmons' one-on-one with Curt Schilling. I don't have much to say about it, other than what Schilling said about Manny confused the hell out of me:

Schilling: From a pitcher's standpoint at times, it's unreal. I watch Manny prepare, I watch him at different times to see what and how he does things. He is dumb like a fox at the plate. He really is "see ball, hit ball," but there are well thought-out plans behind the physical action. Manny is about solid contact. You will never see him snap when someone makes a great play. In fact, you rarely, if EVER, see him emotional over his at-bats. Part of that is because he rarely, if ever, goes into a prolonged slump, but the other part is that he has an incredibly deep grasp on how to hit a baseball. I always feel as if Manny is only concerned with squaring the ball up. If he does that, he's fine.

Dumb as a fox? I have never heard that expression before. Does it mean that Manny is dumb at the plate, or just pretends to be dumb? Actually, this whole thing confuses me. I have no idea what Schilling is trying to say. Could someone explain, please?

Oh yeah, this made me laugh my ass off. Classic Simmons:

Simmons: My favorite "Manny being Manny" moment happened in the final game of the regular season -- he had just crushed a home run, the cameras caught you guys sitting next to one another in the dugout, he was talking excitedly about what pitch he had hit, and somewhere along the way, you just started staring at him in disbelief, as though he had just said something like,"I knew it was going to be a slider because I started craving a pork sandwich, and that always means a slider's coming!" And you just kept staring at him, and then he walked away to another part of the dugout, and you started shaking your head in shock like, "Wow, I will never, ever, ever figure that guy out." How many of those Manny encounters happen per season?