Miami ? His own glove back in hand, Kerry Wood keeps catching compliments. Especially the one about how he and Mark Prior are going to pitch their way to a World Series championship, the way Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling did.

Only one problem — it’s not properly respectful … to Arizona’s dynamic duo, that is.

“In the past three or four weeks, I’ve heard enough of it,” Wood said during the Chicago Cubs’ workout Thursday, a day before Game 3 of the NL championship series against Florida.

“I think it’s a little unfair for those guys for people to be comparing us to them,” he said. “Obviously, we haven’t done what those guys have done throughout their careers for this game, so we have a long ways to go.”

Maybe, but they’ve done a pretty good impression lately, posting all of the Cubs’ wins in this postseason.

Wood and Prior also have put the emphasis on all the outstanding young pitching in the NL championship series — even though it was hard to tell this week with so many balls flying out of Wrigley Field as the teams split the first two games.

Consider this: the eight pitchers scheduled to start in the NLCS are all in their 20s. Average age for Wood, Prior, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement of the Cubs and Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Mark Redman and Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins: 25.

Quite a contrast to the graybeard rotations in the ALCS, where Boston and New York feature six starters in their 30s and two in their 40s. Average age for Roger Clemens, David Wells, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield and John Burkett: 35.

“You look at the young pitchers in this series, to me that’s the future of baseball,” Marlins reliever Chad Fox said.

Chicago pitcher Kerry Wood smiles during practice. The Cubs were preparing Thursday to play Florida in Game 3 of the NL championship series tonight at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. Wood is scheduled to start tonight against Mark Redman.

Added Cubs manager Dusty Baker: “There are a lot of good young pitchers out there, and there is going to be some great pitching here in the next decade.”

Wood agreed about the young pitching talent in this series.

“But talent is one thing, and knowing how to pitch is another thing,” he said.

So far, Wood and Prior have shown both.

After forgetting to bring his glove, the 26-year-old Wood borrowed Prior’s and won the decisive Game 5 of the division series at Atlanta.

Then the 23-year-old Prior came back and shut down the Marlins Wednesday night in Game 2.

“When you have a guy go out and throw a gem the night before you pitch, you want to go out and do the same or better,” Wood said.

Wood will face Redman tonight as the series shifts to Pro Player Stadium.

Wood did a better job of packing for this trip.

“I got my glove,” he said. “I brought two of them.”

Redman, like most everyone else around baseball, has noticed what Wood and Prior have done.

“They’ve accomplished a lot at such a young age and there’s only a bright future ahead of them,” he said.

Wood has excelled against the Marlins, going 4-0 lifetime. He was at his best this year, throwing a two-hitter and a three-hitter and striking out 20 in those outings.

Redman faces the challenge of slowing down Sammy Sosa, Alex Gonzalez and the Cubs, who have hit seven homers and scored 20 runs — only Baltimore (21) in the 1970 ALCS against Minnesota totaled more runs in the first two games of a postseason series.

Ivan Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera and the Marlins are swinging well, too, with 23 hits, including six homers.

“I think you’ll probably have some lower scoring games here than you would at Wrigley,” Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. “You’ve got a bigger ballpark, No. 1. But the wind blows out at Wrigley.”

Said Redman: “I think myself and the other starting pitchers on this team pitched accordingly to this field.”

“You make them hit to the bigger part of the park, and that’s out there in center field. And we’ve got one of the fastest guys in baseball running them down.”

Teammate Mike Lowell, whose pinch-hit homer in the 11th inning won Game 1, estimated that of the 13 homers at Wrigley, only five would have sailed out of Pro Player. That could make for a busy three games for Juan Pierre in center and the other Florida outfielders.

“This park is more conducive to speed than our park is,” Baker said. “And the Marlins have more speed than we have. They’ve got more speed than anybody in the world.”