How to vertical align an inline-block in a line of text?

display: inline-block is your friend you just need all three parts of the construct - before, the "block", after - to be one, then you can vertically align them all to the middle:

Working Example

(it looks like your picture anyway ;))

CSS:

p, div {
  display: inline-block; 
  vertical-align: middle;
}
p, div {
  display: inline !ie7; /* hack for IE7 and below */
}

table {
  background: #000; 
  color: #fff; 
  font-size: 16px; 
  font-weight: bold; margin: 0 10px;
}

td {
  padding: 5px; 
  text-align: center;
}

HTML:

<p>some text</p> 
<div>
  <table summary="">
  <tr><td>A</td></tr>
  <tr><td>B</td></tr>
  <tr><td>C</td></tr>
  <tr><td>D</td></tr>
  </table>
</div> 
<p>continues afterwards</p>

code {
    background: black;
    color: white;
    display: inline-block;
    vertical-align: middle;
}

<p>Some text <code>A<br />B<br />C<br />D</code> continues afterward.</p>

Tested and works in Safari 5 and IE6+.