Florida Marlins: Catcher Ivan Rodriguez is expected to miss the Marlins' three-game series in Montreal after flying to Puerto Rico to tend to his ill mother-in-law.

"His wife was pretty shook up about it and he was too so he wanted to go home for a couple of days to see if he could help out," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said a few hours prior to Tuesday night's series opener against the Expos.

McKeon said he didn't expect Rodriguez to rejoin the team before a three-game series at Cincinnati beginning Friday.

"He said he'd get back as soon as he could but he just got there," McKeon said.

Mike Redmond will make his second straight start for Rodriguez, who was rested during Sunday's 2-1 loss in Los Angeles. McKeon plans to give Ramon Castro -- Florida's third catcher -- his first start of the season on Wednesday.

Kansas City Royals: Right-hander Runelvys Hernandez was scratched from his start Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners to give his sore elbow a few more days of rest.

Darrell May pitched for the Royals instead. Manager Tony Pena said Hernandez (4-3) will probably miss another start, though it wasn't immediately known when he'd be able to return to the rotation.

May, making his seventh start of the season, had come out of the bullpen in his last two appearances, last week at Minnesota and Sunday at Toronto.

The Royals were forced to shuffle their rotation for the rest of the three-game series. Kansas City will start Miguel Asencio (2-1) on Wednesday against Seattle's Freddy Garcia (3-5), and Chris George (4-3) on Thursday against Gil Meche (5-2).

Hernandez has lost three straight, including a 7-0 defeat at Minnesota last Wednesday.

New York Yankees: Charlotte Witkind, who became a limited partner in the Yankees when George Steinbrenner bought the team in 1973, died at age 83.

She died Sunday at home, her family said.

Witkind was born and raised in Columbus, the daughter of Robert Lazarus Sr., formerly the president and chairman of the Lazarus department store chain.

A graduate of Wellesley College, she moved to New York City with her husband, Dr. Warren F. Gorman, after World War II and became a community activist, working in women's rights issues. She was vice president of the New York City League of Women Voters.

After divorcing, she married Richard J. Witkind and the couple became loyal Yankees fans, going to as many games as possible.

"Even when I was 5 years old in the late '40s she would take me with her to the games,'' said her son, Robert L. Gorman. "She had an absolutely incredible memory for numbers and knew statistics.''

The Witkinds moved back to central Ohio in 1963. At an inauguration party for Gov. John Gilligan in 1973, they were introduced to Steinbrenner, who was preparing to buy the Yankees and looking for others to join him. The Witkinds became limited partners in the team's ownership.

Witkind is survived by her husband, who remains a part-owner of the Yankees, sons Robert Gorman and Donald Gorman and daughters Babette Gorman Thompson and Vivian Witkind Davis.

Philadelphia Phillies: First baseman Dave Hollins has left the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and is contemplating retirement.

Phillies spokesman Larry Shenk said Hollins did not show up for a road trip to Charlotte and is with his family in Buffalo to discuss his future.

Red Barons manager Marc Bombard does not know whether Hollins plans to rejoin the team when it returns from Charlotte.

Hollins, an All-Star in 1993, was placed on the temporarily inactive list. He was on the Phillies' major league roster last year but spent most of the season on the disabled list. The Phillies traded for Triple-A first baseman Damon Miller on Monday, indicating they don't expect Hollins to return.

Hollins, 37, was hitting .204 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 29 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He has played for seven different major league teams in his career, including the Phillies on two different occasions.

His best year was 1992, when he hit a career-high 27 home runs and finished second in the National League with 104 runs scored.