diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/spark/BlockStoreShuffleFetcher.scala b/core/src/main/scala/spark/BlockStoreShuffleFetcher.scala
index 06d2d09fce..283825391e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/spark/BlockStoreShuffleFetcher.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/spark/BlockStoreShuffleFetcher.scala
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@ class BlockStoreShuffleFetcher extends ShuffleFetcher with Logging {
 
     try {
       val blockOptions = blockManager.get(blocksByAddress)
-      logDebug("Fetching map output blocks for shuffle %d, reduce %d took %d ms".format(
-        shuffleId, reduceId, System.currentTimeMillis - startTime))
       blockOptions.foreach(x => {
         val (blockId, blockOption) = x 
         blockOption match {
@@ -65,5 +63,7 @@ class BlockStoreShuffleFetcher extends ShuffleFetcher with Logging {
         }
       }
     }
+    logDebug("Fetching and merging outputs of shuffle %d, reduce %d took %d ms".format(
+      shuffleId, reduceId, System.currentTimeMillis - startTime))
   }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/spark/storage/BlockManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/spark/storage/BlockManager.scala
index cde74e5805..b79addb6c8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/spark/storage/BlockManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/spark/storage/BlockManager.scala
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import java.nio.channels.FileChannel.MapMode
 import java.util.{HashMap => JHashMap}
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap
+import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue
 import java.util.Collections
 
 import scala.actors._
@@ -261,15 +262,18 @@ class BlockManager(val master: BlockManagerMaster, val serializer: Serializer, m
   }
 
   /**
-   * Get many blocks from local and remote block manager using their BlockManagerIds.
+   * Get multiple blocks from local and remote block manager using their BlockManagerIds. Returns
+   * an Iterator of (block ID, value) pairs so that clients may handle blocks in a pipelined
+   * fashion as they're received.
    */
-  def get(blocksByAddress: Seq[(BlockManagerId, Seq[String])]): HashMap[String, Option[Iterator[Any]]] = {
+  def get(blocksByAddress: Seq[(BlockManagerId, Seq[String])]): Iterator[(String, Option[Iterator[Any]])] = {
     if (blocksByAddress == null) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("BlocksByAddress is null")
     }
-    logDebug("Getting " + blocksByAddress.map(_._2.size).sum + " blocks")
+    val totalBlocks = blocksByAddress.map(_._2.size).sum
+    logDebug("Getting " + totalBlocks + " blocks")
     var startTime = System.currentTimeMillis
-    val blocks = new HashMap[String,Option[Iterator[Any]]]() 
+    val blocks = new ArrayBuffer[(String, Option[Iterator[Any]])](totalBlocks)
     val localBlockIds = new ArrayBuffer[String]()
     val remoteBlockIds = new ArrayBuffer[String]()
     val remoteBlockIdsPerLocation = new HashMap[BlockManagerId, Seq[String]]()
@@ -300,7 +304,7 @@ class BlockManager(val master: BlockManagerMaster, val serializer: Serializer, m
     localBlockIds.foreach(id => {
       get(id) match {
         case Some(block) => {
-          blocks.update(id, Some(block))
+          blocks += ((id, Some(block)))
           logDebug("Got local block " + id)
         }
         case None => {
@@ -325,7 +329,7 @@ class BlockManager(val master: BlockManagerMaster, val serializer: Serializer, m
             val buffer = blockMessage.getData
             val blockId = blockMessage.getId
             val block = dataDeserialize(buffer)
-            blocks.update(blockId, Some(block))
+            blocks += ((blockId, Some(block)))
             logDebug("Got remote block " + blockId + " in " + Utils.getUsedTimeMs(startTime))
             count += 1
           })
@@ -339,7 +343,7 @@ class BlockManager(val master: BlockManagerMaster, val serializer: Serializer, m
     }
 
     logDebug("Got all blocks in " + Utils.getUsedTimeMs(startTime) + " ms")
-    return blocks
+    return blocks.iterator
   }
 
   /**