Single and makes his offseason home in League City, Texas...originally drafted as a second baseman...attended Galveston Community College in Galveston, Texas, where he earned third-team All-America honors in 1998...pitched a total of 26.1 innings for GCC...graduated from Galveston Ball High School in 1996...was a two-time team MVP in baseball and earned all-district honors.

Went 9-14 with a 6.05 ERA (112ER/166.2IP) in 31 starts with Houston in 2008...set single-season career highs in games started (31), innings pitched (166.2) and strikeouts (127); tied his career high in quality starts (11)...ranked second on the club in starts, innings and quality starts, trailing only Roy Oswalt in those categories...struck out a career-high nine batters on May 8 vs. WSH...received a loss that game, after allowing four runs on six hits in 6.0 innings...previous career high was eight strikeouts, accomplished three previous times...lost three consecutive decisions from May 30 to June 11, tying his career high...marked the second three-game losing streak of his career and first since June 13-25, 2005...allowed a career-high 11 earned runs twice this season on Aug. 6 at CHI and Aug. 16 vs. ARI...excluding those two starts, went 4-1 with a 3.06 ERA (18ER/53IP) in nine starts between July 8 to Sept. 2...had his best statistical month in July, going 1-2 with a 3.45 ERA (11ER/28.2IP)...marked his lowest ERA for a single month in his career (min. five starts) and was the lowest ERA by an Astros starter during the month...ranked 10th in the National League in strikeouts-per-9.0- innings in July after posting a 9.10 ratio...tossed a season-high 10.2 consecutive scoreless innings over parts of three starts from July 3-13...was one of five Major League pitchers with multiple home runs...hit his first homer on May 3 vs. MIL off of Brewers lefty Manny Parra...the home run was part of a back-to-back home run combination with Michael Bourn...marked the franchise's first back-to-back home run combination involving a pitcher since June 14, 1983 at SF when Bill Doran and Bob Knepper hit consecutive shots...hit his second home run on Aug. 1 vs. NYM off of Pedro Martinez...was the first Astros pitcher with multiple homers in a season since Sean Bergman hit two in 1999...finished the season hitting .277 (13x47), which ranked third among Major League pitchers...ranks as the fourth-highest batting average by a pitcher for a single season in franchise history (min. 45 AB)...is the highest average by a pitcher since Mike Hampton hit .311 in 1999 (min. 45 AB).