The Oakland Press announces the following transaction: Effective immediately, beat writer Matthew B. Mowery will be placed on the paternity list. Drew Ellis will be called up to fill Mowery's spot on the active roster, until the birth of his child.

No, seriously. No jokes. I won't be here for the next few days — at least not like you're used to me being.

My wife and I are heading to the hospital Sunday for the birth of our child, so I won't be able to cover — and tweet and SMS and Instagram and Pinterest ... oh, you get what I mean. I won't be able to pay attention to the Tigers beat like I usually do.

Yes, I know it's the middle of the playoffs. Yes, I know that clearly my ability to count to nine should come under scrutiny.

Whaddya gonna do?

Drew Ellis will be my replacement for the time being. He can be reached on Twitter at @EllisDrew. Please give him a follow for the coverage that you normally expect from The Oakland Press. He'll give you the best he's got. I won't ask you to do an impersonation of me, though — that would be thoughtless of me to make him lose all that hair.

And I'll be back, sooner or later.