diff --git a/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/InputRowParser.java b/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/InputRowParser.java
index 82a3c947bc38ef5addb585b4a0135ca9fabff9be..231cbd4410242e228ee3fc22fdac07fa7314d8b3 100644
--- a/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/InputRowParser.java
+++ b/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/InputRowParser.java
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 package com.metamx.druid.indexer.data;
 
+import com.metamx.common.exception.FormattedException;
 import com.metamx.druid.input.InputRow;
 
 public interface InputRowParser<T>
 {
-  public InputRow parse(T input);
+  public InputRow parse(T input) throws FormattedException;
   public void addDimensionExclusion(String dimension);
 }
diff --git a/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/MapInputRowParser.java b/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/MapInputRowParser.java
index 60a97c131bf2c5c1674a5295791100c4e3a3923e..b2d9586f272c2e49322927dbb3cf431d9ffc64be 100644
--- a/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/MapInputRowParser.java
+++ b/indexing-common/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/indexer/data/MapInputRowParser.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
+import com.metamx.common.exception.FormattedException;
 import com.metamx.druid.input.InputRow;
 import com.metamx.druid.input.MapBasedInputRow;
 import org.joda.time.DateTime;
@@ -37,21 +38,30 @@ public class MapInputRowParser implements InputRowParser<Map<String, Object>>
   }
 
   @Override
-  public InputRow parse(Map<String, Object> theMap)
+  public InputRow parse(Map<String, Object> theMap) throws FormattedException
   {
     final List<String> dimensions = dataSpec.hasCustomDimensions()
                                     ? dataSpec.getDimensions()
                                     : Lists.newArrayList(Sets.difference(theMap.keySet(), dimensionExclusions));
 
-    final DateTime timestamp = timestampSpec.extractTimestamp(theMap);
-    if (timestamp == null) {
-      final String input = theMap.toString();
-      throw new NullPointerException(
-          String.format(
-              "Null timestamp in input: %s",
-              input.length() < 100 ? input : input.substring(0, 100) + "..."
-          )
-      );
+    final DateTime timestamp;
+    try {
+      timestamp = timestampSpec.extractTimestamp(theMap);
+      if (timestamp == null) {
+        final String input = theMap.toString();
+        throw new NullPointerException(
+            String.format(
+                "Null timestamp in input: %s",
+                input.length() < 100 ? input : input.substring(0, 100) + "..."
+            )
+        );
+      }
+    }
+    catch (Exception e) {
+      throw new FormattedException.Builder()
+          .withErrorCode(FormattedException.ErrorCode.UNPARSABLE_TIMESTAMP)
+          .withMessage(e.toString())
+          .build();
     }
 
     return new MapBasedInputRow(timestamp.getMillis(), dimensions, theMap);
diff --git a/realtime/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/realtime/RealtimeManager.java b/realtime/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/realtime/RealtimeManager.java
index 0874a900f4283ae94fedb1a9758565b852244d0b..f40fd75998c4571f02c79689dde7b2c450ea6229 100644
--- a/realtime/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/realtime/RealtimeManager.java
+++ b/realtime/src/main/java/com/metamx/druid/realtime/RealtimeManager.java
@@ -164,32 +164,37 @@ public class RealtimeManager implements QuerySegmentWalker
           final InputRow inputRow;
           try {
             inputRow = firehose.nextRow();
+          }
+          catch (FormattedException e) {
+            log.info(e, "unparseable line: %s", e.getDetails());
+            metrics.incrementUnparseable();
+            continue;
+          }
+          catch (Exception e) {
+            log.info(e, "thrown away line due to exception");
+            metrics.incrementThrownAway();
+            continue;
+          }
 
-            final Sink sink = plumber.getSink(inputRow.getTimestampFromEpoch());
-            if (sink == null) {
-              metrics.incrementThrownAway();
-              log.debug("Throwing away event[%s]", inputRow);
-
-              if (System.currentTimeMillis() > nextFlush) {
-                plumber.persist(firehose.commit());
-                nextFlush = new DateTime().plus(intermediatePersistPeriod).getMillis();
-              }
-
-              continue;
-            }
+          final Sink sink = plumber.getSink(inputRow.getTimestampFromEpoch());
+          if (sink == null) {
+            metrics.incrementThrownAway();
+            log.debug("Throwing away event[%s]", inputRow);
 
-            int currCount = sink.add(inputRow);
-            metrics.incrementProcessed();
-            if (currCount >= config.getMaxRowsInMemory() || System.currentTimeMillis() > nextFlush) {
+            if (System.currentTimeMillis() > nextFlush) {
               plumber.persist(firehose.commit());
               nextFlush = new DateTime().plus(intermediatePersistPeriod).getMillis();
             }
-          }
-          catch (FormattedException e) {
-            log.info(e, "unparseable line: %s", e.getDetails());
-            metrics.incrementUnparseable();
+
             continue;
           }
+
+          int currCount = sink.add(inputRow);
+          metrics.incrementProcessed();
+          if (currCount >= config.getMaxRowsInMemory() || System.currentTimeMillis() > nextFlush) {
+            plumber.persist(firehose.commit());
+            nextFlush = new DateTime().plus(intermediatePersistPeriod).getMillis();
+          }
         }
       } catch (RuntimeException e) {
         log.makeAlert(e, "RuntimeException aborted realtime processing[%s]", fireDepartment.getSchema().getDataSource())