PHILADELPHIA — Twenty-five years after the Dodgers last ran into Philadelphia in a National League Championship Series, Gary Matthews Sr. was asked on Wednesday about his performance in that best-of-five series, which the Phillies won in four games.

Matthews, who at the time was an aging outfielder widely thought to be in the twilight of his career, wound up as the series’ Most Valuable Player after leading his veteran-laden club to an improbable World Series berth.

“Things just clicked,” said Matthews, now 58 and a Phillies broadcaster.

“You never really know what is going to happen. You always feel going in that you’re going to have a good series, but you don’t know that.”

The point is, no one could have predicted that Matthews would thrash Dodgers pitching for a .429 average, three home runs and eight RBIs in four games.

Along those lines, no one can predict what is going to happen beginning tonight, when the Dodgers and Phillies meet in their fourth NLCS — and first since that forgettable (for the Dodgers) 1983 series.

This best-of-seven matchup will feature no shortage of heroes, but who will they be? It will offer plenty of drama, but in what form? It will be rife with compelling storylines, but they have yet to reveal themselves.

Well, actually, one already bubbled to the surface following the Dodgers’ official workout. Takashi Saito, the once-dependable closer who has saved 81 games for the Dodgers over the past three seasons, is in danger of being left off the roster for this series because of a mechanical issue that has plagued him since he was activated from the disabled list on Sept. 13.

Saito struggled in his only division series appearance against Chicago, failing to retire any of the three batters he faced when he entered with a nine-run lead in Game 2, and he clearly has lost the closer’s role to Jonathan Broxton, who made three hitless appearances over three innings against the Cubs.

“Right now, with the way Broxton pitched (in the Game 3 clincher), he certainly embraced that opportunity,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “Right now, I think Sammy (Saito) is fighting it a little bit. I don’t think there is anything physically wrong with him, but it just looks like he is trying to overthrow everything.”

Torre also said that he will juggle the lineup for Game 1 against Phillies’ lefty Cole Hamels, moving left-handed-hitting right fielder Andre Ethier to the No. 2 spot, righty-hitting catcher Russell Martin to fourth and lefty-hitting third baseman Blake DeWitt from seventh to eighth to create more of an alternating left-right-left look throughout the lineup (right-handed-hitting Manny Ramirez and Martin will still hit back-to-back).

The batting order is expected to revert to its usual alignment against Game 2 starter Brett Myers, a right-hander.

National League Championship Series

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers • Best-of-seven series

• Game 1: at Philadelphia, today, 5:22 p.m.; TV: Fox