SPRING TRAINING: FLORIDA MARLINS; LEYLAND TURNS TO RIGHT PAGE ALL HE WANTED WAS A CHANCE TO BE COMPETITIVE.(SPORTS)

Byline: Tom Balog STAFF WRITER

WINTER HAVEN -- Jim Leyland is still chain smoking Marlboros in the dugout but the tropical makeover of his familiar visage still triggers an incredulous double-take. Those who never fathomed him in another uniform better blink and stare again.

Alas, it's really The Skipper, sporting teal and black instead of gold and black. No. 11, not 10 anymore.

Tirelessly as ever, the new manager of the Florida Marlins is acclimating himself and his family to a job he swore for years that he'd never take - managing a team other than the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Leyland, who vowed that Pittsburgh would always be his permanent home, has put his house up for sale in Pennsylvania for tax reasons.

He has moved his family to Parkland, one of those sprouting pre-fabricated communities outside of Pompano Beach.

So much new and refreshing, yet unsettling.

"Obviously, it's a little different, moreso …