OAKLAND, Calif. -- Jorge Soler hit a three-run home run in his first at-bat following a two-month absence, Jon Lester pitched seven strong innings, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Oakland Athletics 7-2 on Friday night.Dexter Fowler also homered while Javier Baez added a two-run double to help Chicago win its fifth straight. The Cubs also improved to a major league-best 67-41.Lester pitched for the As over the final two months of the 2014 season after getting traded from Boston. He returned to the Coliseum for the first time since then and faced a distinctly different Oakland team than the one he left.Lester (12-4) had eight strikeouts, allowed two runs and nine hits while winning for the third time in his last four starts.Soler, activated off the disabled list before the game after being out since June 6 with a hamstring injury, celebrating his return to the majors with his home run in the first inning off As starter Dillon Overton (1-3).That capped a four-run burst by the Cubs that included Fowlers fifth game-opening home run this season.Soler also reached on a fielders choice and scored on Baezs double in the third. Jason Heyward added an RBI single in the inning to help extend Chicagos lead to 7-0.Brett Eibner, called up from the minors earlier in the day, homered against Lester leading off the sixth for Oakland. Marcus Semien added an RBI single.Overton allowed seven runs in three innings. The rookie left-hander is winless since beating the Los Angeles Angels in his major league debut June 25.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: Manager Joe Maddon said the plan is to ease Soler back in and get him some defensive work in the outfield before the team faces another NL team on Aug. 11. ... RHP Joe Nathan was designated for assignment. The 41-year-old was 1-0 in three appearances with the Chicago.Athletics: Jed Lowrie was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a bunion on his left foot. ... RHP Jesse Hahn also went on the DL with a strained right shoulder. ... RHP Andrew Triggs was called back up from Triple-A Nashville along with Eibner.UP NEXTCubs: RHP Jake Arrieta (12-5) pitches the middle game of the series at the Coliseum. The Chicago ace has lost three straight decisions.Athetics: RHP Sonny Gray (5-10) has won only twice in 11 starts since coming off the disabled list. Gray has a 5.57 ERA over that span. Tony Phillips Jersey Large . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Custom Athletics Jerseys . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. http://www.customathleticsjersey.com/custom-tony-phillips-jersey-large-75c.html . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. Athletics Jerseys China . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. Wholesale Custom Athletics Shirts . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. Editors:The Associated Press Top 25 poll has been an essential part of college football for 80 years. For the first time, the AP has compiled the data from the more than 1,100 weekly polls to determine the All-Time Top 100 programs. To help you with your planning for this special package, we will have the following lists, stories and with photos in coming weeks. For questions, please call 212-621-1630 or email Barry Bedlan (bbedlan(at)ap.org), Dave Zelio (dzelio(at)ap.org) or Ed Montes (emontes(at)ap.org.All times Eastern.DIGITAL NEWS EXPERIENCEAll the content in this advisory will be available through the College Football Digital News Experience, which is a fully curated digital presentation focused entirely on APs college football coverage and anchored around the marquee AP Top 25 poll. The site, which is responsive to all devices, is available for free and even pays a revenue share to participating sites. The DNE allows for local customization of the site logo, navigation bar, highlighted teams and other features, including embeddable widgets around the poll and Latest News. Some examples: http://collegefootball.ap.org/tampabay and http://collegefootball.ap.org/newsday. Contact your local sales representative or Barry Bedlan at bbedlan(at)ap.org to take advantage of this free digital offering.WHO IS BEST?FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLLTo look back, all the way back, to the first Top 25 college football poll is to take a walk through history. The great teams at Notre Dame and Army, at Oklahoma and Alabama, the coaching greats like Bud Wilkinson and Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz and Nick Saban. For the first time, The Associated Press has sorted through all those polls -- all 1,103 of them -- to determine the top 100 programs of all time after eight decades of arguing whos the best. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: Aug. 2 at 2 p.m.FBC-- T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -THE TOP 100-LISTThe Top 100 college football teams of all time as determined by The Associated Press Top 25. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 2,500 words. Capsules on the best 25 teams, then a list of the remaining 75 on Aug. 2 at 2 p.m. Will be featured on special page of the College Football DNE.FBC-- T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -THE NO. 1s-LISTAll 44 teams ranked No. 1 at least once over the 80 years, with capsules that include the overall top team for each school. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 2,000 words, photos on Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. Will be featured on special page of the College Football DNE.THE DECADE STORIESThrough analysis of the data some clear themes begin to emerge over the 80 years of the poll. Our college football writers take an in-depth look at the evolution of the sport in a series of eight stories to be released in two four-day blocks, Aug. 14-17 and Aug. 22-25.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -1930s-40sThe Associated Press college football poll was created to try to answer the simplest yet most divisive qquestion in sports: Whos better? The poll helped give a regional sport more of a national scope.dddddddddddd The poll helped define the Army-Notre Dame rivalry in the 1940s and was part of their games becoming major events. By John Kekis. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 14.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -1950sBy the 1950s, college footballs power has drifted away from the elite eastern schools and into the Midwest. Bud Wilkinsons Oklahoma dynasty dominated the polls as it set a record winning streak that still stands. By College Football Writer Eric Olson. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 15.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -1960sThe focus on the national championship race and the polls reached new heights in the 1960s, with a peak in 1966 when the matchup of No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State late in the season ended in a famous 10-10 tie. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 16.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -1970sCoaching icons dominated the AP poll during the 1970s with Bear Bryant at Alabama, Joe Paterno at Penn State, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, Bo Schembechler at Michigan, Barry Switzer at Oklahoma and Tom Osborne at Nebraska. Their matchups would often help determine who was No. 1. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 17.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -1980sA new dynasty emerges in Miami, where the brash Hurricanes upend the established Midwestern powers, with pro-style offenses and speedy defenses that smother option football. It takes a little while for AP poll voters to catch up to the power shift, but when they do, Miami becomes a fixture. By Tim Reynolds. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 22.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1990sControversial championships, sometimes with the AP poll breaking one way and the coaches poll going the other, are the catalyst for the bowls and conferences to start working toward a more definitive way to determine the national title. Eventually, it becomes the BCS. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 23.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-2000sThe first half of the decade is dominated by USCs unprecedented run at No. 1, but then the SEC takes over. The overlap produces the last split national champion with the Trojans taking the AP title and LSU winning the BCS. The constant controversy leads to the AP asking out of the BCS process. By David Brandt. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 24.FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-2010sA new power emerges in Oregon, a rarity for college football. But an old one in Alabama dominates as Nick Saban reigns. AP voters are asked to judge a changing brand of football that is played fast and furious and often without a lot of defense. By John Zenor. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos to move Aug. 25.The AP ' ' '