Image vertical-align not working (in header)

I’m trying to place an image in my header area which has my site’s tag line next to it. The height of the header is fixed (part of the f8 lite theme and I like the height) and all of the text is centered in it. However, my logo won’t center with the text. The code I’m using is:

<div id="masthead" class="clearfix">
<h4 class="left">
<a href="http://www.aarongertlerdesign.com/"><img src="http://www.aarongertlerdesign.com/image/agd_logo_blue.png" alt="agd logo" style="height:25px;vertical-align:middle;">
<span class="description"><?php bloginfo('description'); ?></span>
<span class="contact"><?php if ( $options['phone'] != '' ) { ?><?php echo $options['phone']; ?><?php } if ( $options['email'] != '' ) { ?></a><a>"><?php echo $options['email']; ?>
<?php } ?></span>
</h4>

My site’s url is http://www.aarongertlerdesign.com. The logo I’m referring to is the blue “a” in the header.

Thanks guys.

[Please post code snippets between backticks or use the code button.]