a.css() jquery,javascript - Getting a CSS value from $(this) in jQuery - Stack Overflow

So I have working code that animates a BG image via a plugin. This is a general solution though where each element in the class has the same BG image; I'm using a sprite with a unique image for each column of my navigation bar. THe code is thusly:

$('#nav a')

.mouseover(function(){

$(this).stop().animate(

{backgroundPosition:"(0 -250px)"},

{duration:500})

})

.mouseout(function(){

$(this).stop().animate(

{backgroundPosition:"(0 0)"},

{duration:500})

})

This works great, so I can set a Y-offset for each element, but each link has it's own x-offset that won't change/be animated at all. Example CSS:

li.downloads a {

background:url(img/navsprite.png) repeat -318px -9px;

}

I want to roll the -318px -9px to something like -318px 200px, but for another element I'd want to change -482px -9px to -482px 200px. Only the Y-offset should change, but I don't know the syntax of jQuery well enough to pull that value from the CSS of $(this) element and put it into the animate parameters. Thanks!