Miami ? Karim Garcia was running late to practice Monday when he jogged down a dark corridor and headed onto the field at Pro Player Stadium.

Suddenly, the New York Yankees outfielder jerked his head. The bright glare blinded him.

“Whoa!” he said, scrambling for his shades.

Sunglasses scattered in the clubhouse, bottles of Gatorade strewn in the dugout, players in shorts.

Clearly, the scene had shifted in this World Series, from baseball’s most hallowed park to 2267 Dan Marino Boulevard, the address of a stadium originally built for football.

Not that the Florida Marlins mind at all, going into Game 3 tonight tied at 1 with the Yankees. Ace Josh Beckett was to start against New York’s Mike Mussina.

The Marlins were one of the majors’ best home teams this season.

“I think our advantage in this park is that people think it’s ugly and think it’s not a baseball park,” Marlins outfielder Jeff Conine said. “But we call it home, and we feel like we’ve got that advantage. They always come in and say, ‘Oh, the lights are bad’ and ‘It looks like a football stadium.’ I think they just can’t get up for playing in a place like this, as compared to a Yankee Stadium or a Camden Yards or a Fenway Park that’s got all the history. So I think it definitely works in our advantage that it is kind of a dreary and glum place to play.”

The last time the Series was here, the crowd was going crazy as Edgar Renteria hit a winning single in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Cleveland in Game 7 in 1997.

Besides, the ballpark isn’t that drab. Not with the overwhelming display of orange-and-teal seats, pulsating music and Cuban cuisine.

New York's Chris Hammond talks with Josh Pettitte, son of Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, during practice. The Yankees worked out Monday at Pro Player Stadium. Game 3 of the World Series is tonight at Miami.

“This is different,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “We come in here, see the palm trees. It’s weird. It really is weird.”

OK, the trees in the Bronx are starting to show fall foliage. Yankee Stadium has Monument Park to honor the likes of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, and a famous facade.

The names that ring the facing of the upper deck in Miami include Bob Griese, Larry Csonka and Don Shula, and there’s a hot tub for fans down the right-field line.

Another big difference that should be apparent: The sellout crowd of 65,000 is expected to be split.

“We know everywhere we go, we have our share of fans. We certainly know that there are a lot of transplanted New Yorkers in South Florida,” Torre said.

The Marlins’ biggest edge going into Game 3 might be Beckett.

The ace of the Florida staff, he saved the season in the NL championship series. He pitched a two-hit shutout in Game 5 against the Chicago Cubs and came back on two days’ rest with four brilliant relief innings in Game 7.

Now, fully rested, the 23-year-old pitcher is ready to bring his 100 mph heat — at least, that’s what the amped-up radar gun readings show.

Beckett grew up in Texas admiring Roger Clemens, as did a lot of Little Leaguers in the state.

“Yeah, I idolized him,” Beckett said. “When I was younger, I used to try to pitch like him and stuff. Definitely in the street when we were playing home run derby. I have an autographed ball by him, stuff like that.”

Mussina is 0-3 in this postseason. His best outing came in Game 7 of the ALCS, when he relieved and pitched three scoreless innings against Boston.

Mussina is a Gold Glove fielder, and knows the Marlins might test him.

“A large part of their game is their speed,” he said. “We know they like to bunt, obviously.”

The Marlins were successful doing that in the opener, but had no luck during Sunday night’s 6-1 loss in Game 2. It was damp and in the 40s, quite a change from the temperatures in the mid-80s Monday at Miami.

The Yankees last visited Pro Player in 2001, losing two of three. Derek Jeter had trouble with the lights, and several New York players supposedly were drained after too much time at the beach.

On Monday, the Yankees were hard at work getting accustomed to the deeper dimensions down the line. Coach Lee Mazzilli spent considerable time hitting fungoes to left fielder Hideki Matsui, letting him gauge the caroms off the high wall.

A day earlier on the same field, the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins 19-13 in overtime. Miami kicker Olindo Mare had two chances to win it, but he missed a pair of field-goal attempts that were set up on the infield dirt.

“I know they don’t like the dirt, but we don’t really like the grass,” Marlins third baseman Mike Lowell said. “I have 22 pairs of spike marks going through the infield. So hopefully we win the World Series, they win the Super Bowl and everyone will be happy.”